


Sacrifices

by sauciemel



Series: Sacrifices [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 14:45:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12256473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sauciemel/pseuds/sauciemel
Summary: This story is one I wrote way back in 2011 so any typos or mis spelling is down to it not being beta read. I am moving my stories over from Live Journal to here.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is one I wrote way back in 2011 so any typos or mis spelling is down to it not being beta read. I am moving my stories over from Live Journal to here.

The beep, beep of my alarm clock woke me from a lovely dream. I turned over and switched it off. It was another boring work day. Then I sat up. It was Friday, which meant ‘pay day’. I threw the duvet from me and got up. I quickly ran into my small bathroom and had a shower.  
  
\---  
  
 _I should really take this moment to give a little info about myself. My name is Melanie Wallace, I am 27. I work in Boots, doing allsorts. I live in a small one bed flat in a nice area of Newcastle. I have a mum, dad, sister and a brother (the whole package) my sister lives not to far away, she is called Alison, but we call her Alie. My brother works away a lot, he is called Gavin. My mum and dad, Annie and Jason have just retired and are planning to go on a cruise. Alie has just gotten married to a gorgeous man call Brad Stevenson, so she is happy. Me, well I tend to attract the wrong type. I am happy being single. I live alone, I have a few friends I hang out with once a month, Kay, Sandy, Laura, Pearl, Denise and Stephanie. Once a month we meet up and chat about things. That was what was happening tonight. But we were making a weekend of it. Well that was until he appeared. Any way back to the story._  
  
\---  
  
I stepped from the shower and quickly made a coffee and dried my long bobbed, dark brown hair. It didn’t work itself today it went in lovely. I had packed my overnight back the day before. I grabbed the bag that contained my uniform. Dark blue polyester pants and a white polyester overall on top and to top the uniform, flat black slip on shoes. I slipped on my black tracksuit pants, plain black t-shirt and then my black converse, I treasured my converse, I treat myself every two months, had quite a collection. I then grabbed my fleece jacket, keys, small purse, mobile, holdall and bag with uniform in. I made a quick glance around the flat, everything was in order. I locked up and headed to work.  
  
\---  
  
Martha turned over and moaned, then started coughing.   
  
“Here, sip this.”  
  
Martha opened her eyes and saw a spoon in front of her. “What is it?”  
  
“Simple earth cough medicine.”   
  
“Really?”  
  
“Martha, its Buttercup Syrup cough and cold remedy (other brands are available)” The Doctor said.  
  
Martha opened her mouth and then swallowed the liquid. Then lay back down. “I hate being ill.”   
  
“I know, but the worst is passed now.” The Doctor said as he placed the spoon on a small tray. “Right now some food.”  
  
“Doctorrrrr!” Martha whined.  
  
“Martha Jones, you are a bad patient.”  
  
Martha sat up a little. “Am I really that bad?”  
  
“No, now open and eat.” The Doctor grinned as he placed the spoon into the bowl and then into Martha’s mouth.  
  
This was the fifth day Martha had been ill with this flu bug. But she was enjoying the attention off the Doctor. But she knew, she would have to return home soon, she missed her husband. She was feeling better. She had told Tom she was off on a placement with UNIT.  
  
“You look like a woman who has something on her mind.” The Doctor said as he placed the now empty bowl on the tray and handed Martha a glass of water. “Drink this down.” he said as he placed his hand on her forehead. “Yup” he popped the p as always. “Fever has broken and your temperature is nearly normal.”  
  
“So I can go home soon?”   
  
“Home? You sure?” The Doctor felt a little sad.  
  
“Yes, I have to get back to Tom.”  
  
“Martha we can get back just after you leave.” The Doctor pointed out.  
  
“Doctor, I love travelling with you, but I miss him.”  
  
The Doctor nodded. He knew how Martha felt. He missed the person he loved, but the difference was Martha could go to her lover anytime, The Doctor, well Rose was happy with a part human part TimeLord version of himself. He sighed.  
  
“Sorry, I brought sad memories up.” Martha made to get up.  
  
“No, I mean yes they are sad, but I have good ones too, so don’t be sorry. Rose is happy and I am getting there. Now, I need to make a stop to pick up some more Buttercup Syrup. How about a little stop and then I will take you home and you can pretend to Tom your ill and have him pamper you.” he winked.  
  
“Now your talking.” Martha grinned.  
  
\---  
  
It was another busy Friday. I was on the till beside the pharmacy counter. I was bored shitless. Then I spotted him. Well who wouldn’t, but he had his girlfriend/wife with him. She looked like crap. They went over to the cough and cold shelves.   
  
Then they approached the till.  
  
“Good afternoon Sir, Miss. Do you have a boots card sir?”  
  
Martha tried to hid her giggle.  
  
“No.” The Doctor nudged Martha.  
  
“Would you like to apply for one?” I hated saying that, everyone knew about them, if they didn’t have one, they didn’t want one.  
  
“No thank you.”  
  
“Ok sir.” I looked at the 10 bottles of Buttercup syrup in his basket. “Sir you are only allowed 3 of those per customer.”  
  
“Ah, I am a Doctor.” the Doctor held his psychic paper up.  
  
I looked at the paper, I could make something out but it was fuzzy. “Sorry sir I will have to ask the pharmacist to come and approve.” I blushed, this man just wanted the medicine for his wife/girlfriend who was coughing into a hankie as we spoke. “Would you like some water Miss?” I asked.  
  
“Yes please.”  
  
I walked over to the pharmacist. Told her about the man Dr John Smith what it had said on the ID before it went fuzzy. Then I went got some water from the water cooler.  
  
Dr Smith was chatting to the pharmacist. “Here you go miss.”  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
“I am sorry for the inconvenience.”  
  
“No it’s fine, I am a Doctor too, so I understand.”  
  
“Oh your both Doctor’s.” I smiled. Then I went back as I had another customer. The pharmacist dealt with the two Doctor’s. I sighed. He seemed a bit of a hunk. But alas he was with someone. It wasn’t until they had left the shop that I noticed he had left his ID behind. I picked it up. “Sally, that Dr left this, am gonna catch him up ok?”  
  
“Aye, but don’t be too long.”  
  
“I wont.” I then walked to the door, I noticed him go down a small alleyway.  
  
“Doctor?” Martha said.  
  
“Mmmm”  
  
“What’s the rush?”  
  
“Ah you will see.” he pulled Martha into the TARDIS and then bounded up to the console.  
  
I turned the corner. It was a dead end. “What?” I looked around, there were some bins and an old police box. But I didn’t really take much notice of it. I turned and headed back to the shop. I placed the ID in my pocket, my shift would be over soon. I could look for a phone number or something later.  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor watched as the woman from boots walked away.  
  
“What was that all about?”  
  
“Well, Donna once told me to find someone to travel with, I said I didn’t need anyone, she then pointed out that I needed someone to stop me, keep me grounded. So…”  
  
“With Rose and Donna gone.” Martha winced a little.  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“With them gone and me about to leave……”  
  
“Yes.” The Doctor stood against the console now, folded arms and legs crossed at his ankles.  
  
“You will be alone.”  
  
“Come on Martha.”   
  
“Oi I am ill, you deliberately left your psychic paper behind.”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Your looking for a new companion?”  
  
“Yes, well a friend not so much a companion.”   
  
“Doctor.”  
  
“I prefer a friend Martha, that is what you all become, well you are more like family than friends, you Jack, Donna and Sarah.” the Doctor was now looking at something on the monitor.  
  
Martha knew he was thinking of Rose. She was the woman he loved, the woman who had made him feel again. Be able to show love and get on with his life.   
  
“Well promise me one thing.” Martha said.  
  
“What?” the Doctor looked up.  
  
“Tell her everything.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Doctor, look what happened when you tried to be different with me. You lied and then…”  
  
“I know, ok I promise.”  
  
“Why don’t you let me be with you, I can help then you can drop me off home?”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yes, if I am here it will make things easier.”  
  
“Ok, we will just have to wait for a phone call.”  
  
\---  
  
The next two hours flew by, I changed back into my tracksuit pants, tee and converse. I placed my uniform in my locker, I had a clean one at home. I picked up my overnight bag and left. I popped into the local Starbucks coffee shop (other coffee shops are available) I picked up the ID. I looked inside.   
  
Dr John Smith, there was a photo attached, he was a good looking man, he had worn a brown pinstripe suit, with a pale blue shirt and brown tie, with a purple swirl. He also had a long tanned overcoat on. He had a swagger in his step. I shook my head. No he is involved. I then saw there was a mobile number attached, I took out my mobile and typed the number in.  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor heard Martha’s old mobile ring. “Here we go.”  
  
\---  
  
“Hello?”  
  
“Erm, hi, is that Dr Smith?”  
  
“It is yes?”  
  
“Erm I don’t know if you remember Dr Smith, but you were in a boots store earlier today?”  
  
“Yes I remember, erm Miss Wallace wasn’t it?”  
  
‘How did he know my name I didn’t tell him. “Erm how do you know my name?”  
  
“Your name tag.”  
  
I blushed, how thick am I. “Yes sorry, anyway, you left your ID behind.”  
  
“Oh, you found it. I am so glad, am always doing that, am getting forgetful in my old age.”  
  
‘Old age?’ he couldn’t be more that 33. “Any way I was wondering if you were nearby and I could meet with you and hand it back, or I can post it or drop it of somewhere?”  
  
“No I am still in the area.”  
  
“Good,” I said a little too quick. “Erm, where do you want to meet?”  
  
“Well there is a Starbucks nearby and I could murder a cup of tea.”  
  
“Funny that.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“That you want to meet in Starbucks, as that it where I am.”  
  
“Oh, well then I shall be there in a tick.”   
  
“Ok.” then the line went dead. I grinned. There was something about this Dr John Smith, he seemed a kind, warm and honest man.  
  
\---  
  
“Right I shall go and meet Miss Wallace and then… well we will see.”  
  
“Don’t be pushy.”  
  
“I am not pushy.”  
  
“I know.” Martha smiled.  
  
\---  
  
I ordered another cup of coffee. Then I saw him. He came in the door, he ordered his beverage and then came over.  
  
“Miss Wallace.” he grinned.  
  
‘Wow he had a lovely smile’ “Dr Smith.”  
  
“Please just call me Doctor.”  
  
I felt myself frown a little. “Ok Doctor, my name is Melanie but everyone calls me Mel.”  
  
“Hi Mel.”  
  
“Hi Doctor.”  
  
His tea was brought over. “Here.” I reached into my pocket. “Before I forget.” I handed him his ID.  
  
“Thanks.” The Doctor placed it on the table. “Mel.”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“I know this may sound odd, but do you believe in aliens?”  
  
“Well you cant not anymore can we, I mean yeah some people ignore the fact but I mean all the things that have happened over the past few years. The shop dummies, that space ship crashing into Big Ben, Downing Street being blown up, then an Earthquake in Cardiff, I mean Cardiff? Then that huge space ship, the people standing on the roof, then the battle at Canary Wharf.” I took a sip of my coffee and I heard the sigh. “Oh you don’t believe?”  
  
“No, I do its just…. I lost someone that day.”  
  
“Sorry.”  
  
“No you weren’t to know, carry on.” The Doctor took a sip of his tea.  
  
“Right, then came the Webstar in the sky shooting up the streets of London, the Thames being drained one moment and then refilled the morning after. Then a hospital disappearing and reappearing, the patients and staff saying they had been on the moon., then came Harold Saxon, I didn’t vote for him he was a complete phoney.”  
  
“Yeah, he was that. I didn’t vote for him either. Is there more?”  
  
“Am I boring you?”  
  
“No I am intrigued, I want to hear more.”  
  
“Ok, well after Saxon was taken captive and sectioned we had a sort of quiet Christmas, apart from a replica of the Titanic almost crashing into the Palace but that had to be a hoax. Then those Adipose pills. They were too good to be true, I told my sister that.”  
  
“You have a sister?”  
  
“Yeah but she said they worked. Turns out it was some mad alien scheme to remove our fat and make them into little baby fat things. Then when the Atmos on the cars went haywire. They almost choked the whole world. But this huge fireball went whoosh over head and stopped it. Then came the Daleks, they moved the Earth somehow, hundreds died that day. But we bounced back thanks to this alien.”  
  
“Alien?”  
  
“Yeah, after a while some of the internet forums started coming up with these theories that they had help, it was some alien in a space ship fighting on our behalf saving the Earth.”  
  
“You believe that?”  
  
I looked at this man. “Yeah I do.”  
  
“Good, now would you care to accompany me?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Mel Wallace, you are a brainy girl, look at that ID again, then meet me in the Alley again.”  
  
I watched as he left. Was he mad? Meet him in an alley. I picked up the ID again. But then I almost dropped it. It had changed.  
  


**The Doctor.  
Timelord.  
Defender of the Earth.**

  
  
I looked up and then I stood up and went to find this mad Doctor.  
  
The Doctor turned and leant on the TARDIS and waited.  
  
\---  
  
I walked back down the street towards the alley. A million things running through my head. Who was this Doctor man? Why was I actually going to find him? I then stopped as I turned into the alleyway.  
  
There he was, leant against that old police box.   
  
“Ok, how did your ID do that?” I said holding said ID up.  
  
“It’s psychic paper, it tells you what I want you to know and I wanted you to know who I am.”  
  
“Why?” stupid question I know.  
  
“Because Mel Wallace, I have travelled for a long time, met some amazing people. But they…”  
  
I looked at him as he paused. He looked so old in that moment, then he didn’t.  
  
“…..leave me, forget about me and move on, which they should”  
  
“That woman..”  
  
“Woman?”  
  
“Who you came into the shop with…..is she one of your *amazing people*?”  
  
“Yes, she is someone who travelled with me for a while, some things happened, she left and now every now and then we travel again.”  
  
“Oh, and how do you travel?” I took a couple of steps forward.  
  
“Well I am an alien, how do they usually travel?”  
  
“In a spaceship?” I smiled.  
  
“Yes, and this….” The Doctor stepped away and placed his hand on the TARDIS. “….is mine.”  
  
I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing.  
  
“Oi! What’s so funny?”  
  
“You travel in a small wooden, old blue police public call box?”  
  
“Yeah so?”  
  
“Ok, who are you? Is this some sort of prank show?”  
  
“No, no, no, its not, I can prove it to you.”  
  
“Oh really? How?”  
  
The Doctor grinned and snapped his fingers.  
  
I felt my mouth hit the floor as I saw the door open, I could see inside. It was no wooden box. “Bloody hell.” I then clamped my hands on my mouth.  
  
“She is called the TARDIS, - **T. A. R. D. I. S** \- TIME AND RELATIVE DIMENSION IN SPACE.”  
  
“She?”  
  
“All in good time, now how would you like to come aboard and have a cuppa and a chat, oh and meet Martha properly.”  
  
I just nodded. Then I felt a hand in mine.  
  
“Breathe and trust me.”   
  
I looked at him. I nodded and then exhaled.  
  
\---  
  
Martha was sat in the kitchen, she had just brewed up some tea when the Doctor appeared, with the girl from the shop. “Hi.”  
  
I waved. “Hello.”  
  
“I know, it’s a lot to take in.”  
  
“It’s really got all this inside?”  
  
Martha nodded. “Ok I will let you two chat and then join you later.” Martha then coughed. “I need a lie down.”  
  
“Is she ok?”  
  
“Yeah, damned flu bug.”  
  
“You haven’t got it?”  
  
“No and I don’t want it. Now sit down and tell me how you take your tea?”  
  
“Erm, white three sugars.”  
  
“Sweet, just like I take mine.”  
  
I sat down, was I dreaming, I pinched myself, (a little too hard) “OW!”  
  
“Your not dreaming.” the Doctor said with his back to me.   
  
“Pardon?”  
  
He turned round. “You don’t need to pinch yourself, your not dreaming.” he set the cups down.  
  
“Ok, so I am in a space ship.”  
  
“Time Machine.”  
  
“Ok time machine, with a TimeLord and a human?”  
  
“Yes, now, you said all that stuff earlier in the coffee shop.”  
  
“Yes.” I blew the top of the tea and took a sip.  
  
“Ok, let me give you the facts on what actually happened. Firstly the shop dummies were actually aliens called Autons. They are made of living plastic, I met Rose that day.”  
  
“Rose?”  
  
“A comp….friend of mine, just listen if you let me tell all this and you want to go home I will take you.”  
  
“What if I don’t?”  
  
“Then you can come travelling but first…..”  
  
I listened as the Doctor spoke about the Autons, Nestene consciousness, the Slitheen, how he met a man called Jack in world war two, how he lost his hand in a sword fight in the spaceship in the sky, then how he lost his friend (who by the way his eyes tinged with tears and sadness at her name loved her, still does) Rose. Then how he met Donna on his ship and the Racnoss, the webstar, then how he refilled the Thames after he had drained it. Then came meeting Martha in the hospital which did indeed go to the moon. But when he explained about Harold Saxon being one of his own kind who was evil, he didn’t go into detail just said that we all went through a year that never was. The Master was dead now. Then how he was aboard that Titanic replica on Christmas day. It was an alien space cruiser. Then he spoke about meeting Donna again, they were in the middle of the Adipose thing. Then how he helped to stop the Atmos in the cars and a bunch of aliens called Sontaran’s. Then how he found out Rose had found a way back to him. He then spoke about his handy spare hand, how it had gotten chopped off and his friend found it. It was now a living breathing person and on a Parallel world with Rose. Donna had been his best friend but now didn’t know who he was.  
  
I sat back. “Ok.”  
  
“After all that you say ok?”  
  
“Well, I knew most of it, its just the other side of the coin, I want to know about you, your this TimeLord who did all that.”  
  
“All that and more.” Martha said.  
  
“Martha.” the Doctor looked at her.  
  
“No, you promised now hush.” Martha sat down.  
  
“He is over 900 years old. Erm …”  
  
“905”  
  
“Ok, his people have this way of cheating death.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Hold on. They can repair their body, everything, but they have to change everything, they are still them, with all their memories but also a new person. He is onto his 10th version now. And looking good in it to.”  
  
The Doctor grinned.  
  
“He is the last of his kind, they all died in a horrible war.”  
  
I looked at them both,  
  
“It was a TimeWar between my people, the TimeLords and the Daleks. It raged for years, millions dying. The TimeLords changed from the people they were into insane mad ones, they wanted to end time as we know it. So I did the one thing I had to do.”  
  
“Doctor, if it hurts to much don’t.” I placed my hand on his.  
  
“No, I want you to know. I had to end the war. I expected to die. But I didn’t. I lived. I then travelled a little, but it wasn’t until…..”   
  
I noticed he had stopped. “Until you met Rose.”  
  
He nodded. “Then I let some light back into my life. I found a reason to want to go and help. Then I lost her and met Martha, then Donna and a few others on the way. But here and now I am just me. A lonely old man travelling the stars.”  
  
“He is brilliant. I love every minute I am with him. But as I said I need to get back.”  
  
“Back?”  
  
“Yes, I have my own Doctor waiting for me.”  
  
“But if you go…” I looked at the Doctor then I realised. “You want someone to travel with you now, this moment?”  
  
“Well yes, you seem right, I don’t know why but you do.”  
  
“Well thanks … I think.” I smiled.  
  
“So does that mean your coming?”  
  
“Ok, I mean I got nothing else on, well a weekend with some friends but if this is a time machine then I can come back 10 seconds after we have left.”  
  
“Blimey your clever.” Martha winked.  
  
“Not really, just love Time Travelling films.”  
  
“Oh me too.” The Doctor said. “I love Back to the Future the most. I also like.”  
  
And at the same time me and the Doctor said. “The Time Travellers Wife.”  
  
“Spooky.”   
  
“Pardon?”  
  
“You two seem to have a rapport and you only met a few hours ago.” Martha said as she picked up the now empty cups.  
  
“Sometimes it happens.” The Doctor said.  
  
I looked at him he seemed lost in thought.  
  
“Right Miss Jones. I shall go and set the co-ordinates for your flat.”  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor almost ran.   
  
_‘sometimes it happens.’_  
  
It had happened, once before, the quick quips and chat between him and a companion. Mel reminded him of Rose, was that why she was here. No…. she isn’t anything like Rose. Rose wasn’t here. He smiled. He knew he had made the right choice. He had lost Donna and Rose. Martha, whom he loved dearly was a close friend. But things had changed after the year that never was. They were like brother and sister now.   
  
Jack, well Jack was Jack.  
  
Mel seemed exactly what he needed right now. Someone to run with, have a chat and a laugh with, and maybe watch some TV when they got some down time.  
  
He grinned again and headed for the console room.  
  
\---  
  
After the Doctor left Martha spoke a bit more about the Doctor.   
  
“He is a brilliant man, but he can be dark too.”  
  
“Dark?”  
  
Martha told me what the Doctor had been like when she was first with him, when he had lost Rose and no matter what Martha did he always saw Rose. Then when they had faced Daleks, mutant pigs, then a big huge scorpion thing and then when the Doctor was possessed by a sun and he finally admitted he was actually scared. But it was when the Doctor had became human that Martha learnt a lot more about him. The human him fell in love, but not with Martha. But she saved him in the end and it finally brought them closer together. Then the Master happened. Martha told me all about the year that never was.  
  
I was gobsmacked.  
  
“I’m not telling you this to put you off, I never got told any of this. I had to learn it all myself, there should be a companion hand book, anyway, its not all fun and games, its dangerous and sometimes the Doctor needs someone to tell him to stop.”  
  
“Is that why he travels with humans?” I asked.  
  
“I honestly don’t know, but your life will never be the same again. Do you have a mobile?”  
  
I nodded and took it out of my pocket.  
  
Martha then took it from me, “I am putting in some numbers you will need, my mobile and desk number, Torchwood’s number, also Sarah Jane’s number. You will no doubt meet Jack.” Martha handed me the phone back. “I will tell them that you are travelling with the Doctor. Feel free to text or call no matter what the time. Ok.”  
  
I nodded.   
  
“Right then you two, you have chin wagged about me long enough.” The Doctor said as he appeared in the doorway.  
  
“How long have you been there?” Martha asked.  
  
“Oh since you started chatted about The Master, now Miss Jones I believe we have arrived at your flat.”  
  
“Already?”  
  
“Yes, I did a smooth and precise landing.”  
  
“Makes a change, well then Mel until next time.” both Martha and I stood and hugged.  
  
“Right then Doctor.” Martha linked with him.   
  
I sat back down.  
  
\---  
  
“Doctor.”  
  
“Yes Martha?”  
  
“You take care of yourself and Mel.”  
  
“I will.”  
  
“Is there something your not telling me about Mel?”  
  
“No. not really.”  
  
“Doctor?”  
  
“Ok, I felt something when we went into the shop, I don’t know what it was, but I haven’t felt it since..”  
  
“Rose.”  
  
“Yes, and I don’t know if…” he stopped.  
  
“Doctor, just be you. don’t try and look for something that might not be there.”  
  
“But if it is, I don’t know if I can open my hearts up again.”  
  
“Doctor, you deserve happiness in your life as much as anyone else, I mean look at all of us. Sarah has Luke, Rani and Clyde. Jack had Ianto, Gwen and Rhys, Rose has the other you, Donna has her mum and granddad, I have Tom, you deserve someone. And I think Mel does too.” Martha hugged him. “Don’t stay away too long.”  
  
“I wont.” The Doctor smiled as he watched Martha leave once again.  
  
\---  
  
I decided to do the few dishes that were there. Then I felt a small humming noise and then it felt as if we were on a ship and then it was normal.  
  
“You didn’t need to do that.”  
  
I turned and the Doctor was stood there. “Least I can do.” I smiled.  
  
“So, you want a quick tour?”  
  
“I would love a tour.”  
  
 **Three hours later…**  
  
“You call that a quick tour?” I leant against one of the walls. The Doctor had shown me the wardrobe, the library, a swimming pool (which was in the library), the living room, the gym, the games room, the music room, the chill-out room, then the infirmary, med lab, we walked past a room he called the zero room, he showed me a wooden version (and a lot smaller) version of the console room, then it was on to the gardens, sauna, and now I was leant against the wall.  
  
“Oh there is a lot more.”  
  
“Have you actually been in every room?”  
  
“Mmmm ….. Yes, apart from the next one.” The Doctor then held his hand out and wiggled his fingers. “Care to accompany me?”  
  
“Always.” I smiled as I took his hand.  
  
10 minutes later we were stood outside a door.  
  
“Ok I think three and a bit hours has been long enough.”  
  
“Long enough for what?”  
  
“For the TARDIS to get an idea of what type of room would suit you.”  
  
“Pardon?”  
  
“Open the door and see.”  
  
I placed my hand on the door and took a deep breath and pushed the door.  
  
\---  
  
Inside was a normal room, not like the rooms I had seen so far. There was a double bed over on one side of the room. There was a window there too. I walked over and there was a beautiful waterfall.  
  
“Whatever you want to see from that window she will show you.” The Doctor said as he stood in the door way.  
  
“Really? Anything?”  
  
The Doctor nodded.  
  
I then looked around the room, the normal furniture was there, dressing table, chest of drawers, bedside tables, closet. They were all in pine, my favourite. There was an ensuite but I then looked at the Doctor. “So, what now?”  
  
“Erm, well we are floating in the vortex.”  
  
“So is that what you do? Float?”  
  
“No, would you like to go on an adventure?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Come on then.” The Doctor grabbed my hand.  
  
\---  
  
We reached the room, erm console room that’s what Martha had said. The Doctor ran round pressing this and that.  
  
“Hold on tight.”  
  
I did and then the TARDIS bumped around then it stopped. “Not that bad.” I smiled.  
  
“Ok, right, erm first rule DO NOT WANDER OFF.” The Doctor said as he pulled on a large brown overcoat.  
  
“Ok, anymore rules?”  
  
“Oh you’ll pick them up on the way along.” he grinned.  
  
We strode down to the door.  
  
“Doctor. Erm am I dressed ok?” I looked down at my tracksuit pants, converse and my t-shirt.  
  
“Mmmm yes, your dressed fine.” he smiled again. Then he opened the door.  
  
\---  
  
We stepped out into some sort of forest. You could smell the pine, “Wow. So this is an alien planet?”  
  
The Doctor took his finger, sucked it and placed it in the air, then he placed it back in his mouth, “Nope Earth.”  
  
“Earth?”  
  
“Yup, and this is your time too.”   
  
“Ok, so why here?”  
  
“Erm I don’t know, lets look around.” the Doctor started to walk away.  
  
I followed him. We walked for a little while, then I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye, but there was nothing there when I looked.  
  
The Doctor turned and looked at me. “Mel don’t move.”   
  
I looked at him. “Why?”  
  
“Just don’t move.”  
  
“Doctor.” I was a little scared now. Then I saw it, a small glow flying towards me.   
  
“Mel just stay still don’t move. Let me speak ok.”  
  
“Who to?”  
  
“Them.” the Doctor pointed as the glow stopped and I saw them for what they really were. Faeries.  
  
“Hello there I’m the Doctor and this is Mel.” he beamed.  
  
“Hi.” I muttered.  
  
“She is trespassing.” a small faerie flew to face the Doctor.  
  
“Sorry, didn’t know, there weren’t any signs.” The Doctor said.  
  
“There are.” The Faerie pointed to the tree.  
  
“Ah, my apologies we didn’t see it.”  
  
“Trespassers are punished.” the faerie said. Then before I knew it I was surrounded by at least 50 faeries.   
  
“No wait, let her be, Mel didn’t know, we can talk about this.” The Doctor said to the faerie in front of him.   
  
“Sorry but our rules must be obeyed.”  
  
“Please let me speak to your Queen.”  
  
“No.” the Faerie went to fly away.  
  
“Stop, you are here in accordance to the Shadow Proclamation, I should know I helped bring you here. Now I demand to speak to your queen.” the Doctor raised his voice and tone.  
  
I looked at him. Then at the faeries.   
  
One of the other faeries flew to him. “Go and bring two potions.”   
  
The Doctor smiled at him and then me. “Thank you.” the faeries that had been swarmed around me left me alone. The Doctor came over to me. “Sorry.”  
  
“Alien Faeries?”  
  
“Yeah, they have been here for eons. I didn’t know this was one of their forests.”  
  
“So what happens now?”   
  
“Well we will have to drink the potion and go and speak to the queen so I can sort this little mishap out.”  
  
“Potion?”  
  
“Yes, we will become …….erm faeries, sort of for a short while.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yes. You don’t mind?”  
  
“Mind, its every little girls dream to be a fairy well in your case it would be to become Peter Pan.”  
  
“Mmm yeah it would be.” the Doctor grinned.  
  
Then some faeries returned with two small vials. They dropped them into the Doctor’s hand.  
  
“Her majesty had agreed to hear your explanation.”   
  
“Thank you. Here you go Mel, drink up.” he handed me a small vial.  
  
I popped the small cork and sniffed the liquid. “Smells like peppermint.”  
  
“Bottoms up.” the Doctor winked.  
  
We drank them down. Then I felt it, a cool sensation flowing throughout my whole body. Then it went black.


	2. Chapter 2

I opened my eyes and saw brown eyes staring back at me. “Sorry should of warned about that.” the Doctor smiled.  
  
I sat up. I looked down, I was no longer in my clothes. “What?”  
  
“Sorry, they can only shrink the body not the clothes, but as you can see you are clothed.” the Doctor said he had on dark green pants and t-shirt.   
  
As did I. “Well now you look the part all you need is the pointy ears and small hat.” I giggled.  
  
He arched his eyebrow.  
  
“Peter Pan.” I said.  
  
“Oh right, come on.” he took my hand.  
  
We didn’t have wings like the faeries, they said the queen wasn’t far. So we started walking again.   
  
It was strange to see everything from a different perspective. The blades of grass seemed huge and thick. I watched as the faeries placed a small bridge in front of us.  
  
“This seems like a lot of work for them?” I whispered to the Doctor  
  
“Its not work but it’s a bit extra for them, but don’t worry, we will be walking back fully grown.”  
  
We stepped across the bridge and then a small cart with, what I can only describe as a ladybird pulling it was waiting. After a few minutes we pulled up outside of a tree and were led inside.  
  
“She waits here.” the boss Faerie boomed.  
  
I was just about to tell him *she had a name*  
  
“Excuse me, but my friend is called Melanie, now you may call her Melanie, Mel, Miss or even Madame, but not *SHE*” the Doctor raised the tone of his voice.  
  
‘Thank You’ I mouthed as he was led away.  
  
“Miss would you like some refreshment?” a small young girl asked,  
  
“No thank you.” I smiled. “What’s your name?”  
  
“Ersha.”  
  
“That’s a very pretty name.”  
  
“Thank you Miss.”   
  
Then she flew off.  
  
\---  
  
I don’t know how long I sat there for, but it must have been a while because I dozed off.  
  
“Mel.” The Doctor said in a soft voice  
  
“Mmm” I mumbled.  
  
“Mel. Wake up.” he repeated a little louder.  
  
“Melanie.” he said in his normal voice.  
  
“W-What? Oh sorry.” I blushed.  
  
“This is her royal highness Queen Laman”  
  
I stood up and curtsied. “A pleasure to meet you, your majesty.”  
  
“Thank you, now I must apologise for the misunderstanding. The Doctor has shown me where you were apprehended. And it seem the marking on the tree wasn’t as clear as it should be, this has been rectified and as a way of an apology from the Faeries a banquet has been arranged.”  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
“Ersha.” the Queen clapped her hands.  
  
“Yes your highness.”  
  
“Miss Melanie here needs a nice gown for tonight’s banquet, I am sure you can help her.”  
  
“Yes your highness.” she bowed.  
  
“Doctor you will accompany Alimund, he will have a suit to accommodate you.” then the Queen left.  
  
“A Banquet?” I smiled.  
  
“I know, she was horrified that the markings had faded and weren’t fresh, she mentioned something about a small faction of the faeries wanting to go back home. So…”  
  
“You decided to stick around?”  
  
“Yes, I don’t want any trouble from the *small faction* Faeries can be quite powerful beings when they want to.”  
  
“So we blend in and keep our eyes open and ears to the ground?”   
  
“That’s it, oh I am gonna love you.” he grinned. “Right then Alimund lead on.” he winked back at me.  
  
“Miss would you follow me.” Ersha said.  
  
“Please call me Mel not miss.”  
  
“Mel, this way.”  
  
\---  
  
I was led down a long corridor and into a large room, you could see the markings from the carvings of the tree, someone had done all this. “This is beautiful.” I said as I looked around.  
  
“This? It is only a dressing room Mel.”  
  
“Well it’s the best dressing room I have been in.” I beamed.  
  
We spent an hour looking through gowns, (which I didn’t like,) fair do if you wanted to be a big fluffy toilet roll cover that’s fine by me, but not my cup of tea. Then as Ersha closed the door something caught my eye. It was a lilac dress, not huge just a plain simple dress. It looked divine. “Ersha, can I try that one.” I pointed it out.  
  
It fitted like glove, it was a deep V shape, it had broad straps, but it hung lovely.  
  
“Oh it was made for you.” Ersha smiled.  
  
“It does seem to suit me.” I spun round. It had a small skirt that fell and lay just above my knee.   
  
“Now we need accessories.” Ersha said as she opened up another door.  
  
I was sat down, my hair was pinned up on the top of my head and sculptured so little droplets fell down, I also has small crystals placed in my hair. Then I was handed a small delicate necklace, bracelet and earrings. Which had the same crystals on it as I wore in my hair.   
  
Ersha passed me a pair of deep purple high heels and a deep purple wrap. I stood up. I didn’t recognise myself.  
  
“You look divine Mel.”  
  
“Thank you.” I smiled, “I just a shame I cant take it with me.”  
  
“What do you mean miss?”  
  
“Well when I have to become me again I will grow and this wont fit me anymore.”  
  
“Oh that only works on human clothes miss, the faerie clothes are different. We can make them grow too, as with the jewellery, it is one of the gifts our species have.”  
  
I smiled. “I will cherish them.”  
  
Ersha looked at her arm. “We must go Mel, we will be late.”  
  
\---  
  
I walked down the corridor again and saw the Doctor with Alimund. I couldn’t help but laugh. The Doctor wore a miniature version of his brown pinstripe suit.   
  
“You look … the same.” I smiled.  
  
“You don’t, Wow, you look divine.” he smiled.  
  
A different smile than what I had seen before. “Miss Wallace would you care to accompany me to a banquet.”  
  
“My dear Doctor I am happy to oblige you.” I took his arm and we stepped in.  
  
\---  
  
The room was huge, covered in flowers of all kinds, tables, chairs it was beyond words. We were sat on a long table with the Queen and her Prince.   
  
She made a speech about old and new friends. I felt it was more like a wedding than a banquet. The way the Doctor and I were seated. Everyone watching us.  
  
Then I saw them. The boss faerie who had stopped up and another man. I also saw a flash of something metallic. I turned and whispered to the Doctor. “I think trouble is a foot” I then beckoned to the spot.  
  
“Ah, good eye, I think so too, I think an assassination attempt is about to be made.” the Doctor sat back. “Your highness, do you remember when I taught you to waltz?”  
  
“I do my dear Doctor.”  
  
“Well them your majesty would you care to dance?” the Doctor stood up and bowed. He then looked at me.  
  
I gulped, I knew a little of the waltz. The Doctor looked at me.   
  
“Just follow my lead.”  
  
“Your highness, would you care to dance?” I asked the prince.  
  
He nodded. He looked a little scared.  
  
“I am afraid my good husband isn’t as good a dancer as I.” The Queen said.  
  
“Well, neither am I.” I smiled.  
  
We took to the floor, I was a little gobsmacked at the elegance and grace the Doctor had in his dancing, we tried to match him. After a while a few others joined us. Then I realised what the Doctor was doing and I followed.  
  
The Doctor looked across at Mel. She had cottoned on to what he was doing. She was a fast learner. He had only known her for a few short hours but he felt like it was right, he wanted her to be dancing in his arms not the queen. He pushed those thoughts back. Rose had awakened his hearts again after they had been closed for so long, and now he was like a randy teen. He had to keep his emotions in check until the Queen was safe and knew what was going on.  
  
\---  
  
I watched the Doctor as best I could, the prince kept chatting to me, he seemed a nice man. Then I saw a look from the Doctor, it was the same look he had given me earlier. I brushed it off. I had only known him a few hours. But it felt like I had known him all my life. I found myself wanting to be in his arms not the princes. I blushed at the thought and pushed it away. His hearts belonged to another I knew that.  
  
I then saw that we were at the doors. I spun the prince and then we followed the Doctor and the Queen outside.  
  
“Your majesty we don’t have long.” the Doctor said.  
  
“Doctor?”  
  
“Someone is planning to kill you or the prince.” I said.  
  
“Kill?” The Queen said.  
  
“I saw ….erm the faerie that brought us here, the one who found us. He had a shiny metallic object and was speaking to someone.”  
  
“I see, and that is why you brought us out here?” the queen asked.  
  
“Yes, because I can use this.” The Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver.  
  
“What’s that?” I asked.  
  
“It’s Sonic Screwdriver, it’s a sort of Swiss Army knife.”   
  
“Wow, handy thing to have that.”  
  
He smiled at me.  
  
“What?”  
  
“Just most people ask why?”  
  
“You’re a male alien, they all love their tools no doubt.” I teased.  
  
“Mmm never thought of it that way. Anyhow, I can use this to out the man, I assume everyone is not allowed to carry weapons?”  
  
“No, we have a no weapon rule.” the Prince said.  
  
“Right then. Allons-y.”  
  
\---  
  
We stepped back into the room.   
  
“SEAL THE DOORS.” The Queen bellowed.   
  
The sound of them being closed and bolted rang round the room.  
  
“I have been informed that someone is plotting to kill me or my husband.”  
  
There were gasps around the room. I then saw the man/faerie who had the knife.  
  
“You know the punishment for carrying weapons.”  
  
There were hushed “Mmmm’s” around the room.  
  
“Doctor if you please.”  
  
The Doctor stepped forward and pressed a button on his sonic. I saw the faerie step a little closer to me. Then before I knew it I was grabbed.  
  
“You are a silly woman.”   
  
“Doctor.” I yelled.  
  
“Dalshi.” The Queen yelled “My most trusted friend.”  
  
“Friend Pah! don’t you realise that we want to go home your highness.”   
  
“Really? After all this time?” she asked.  
  
“The Earth offers us shelter and peace, but what of our own kind? It has been too long.”  
  
“Doctor.” the queen said.  
  
“Dalshi, I am afraid that your home world was lost.”  
  
“Lost? How can it be lost?”  
  
“There was a war….”  
  
I looked at him, I saw the sadness and pain in his eyes.   
  
“A lot of things, people and planets were lost.”  
  
“You lie.”  
  
I felt the knife in my throat a bit harder. ‘to hell with this I thought.’ I had been through a bad and violent relationship. I took control of that and I was going to take control of this. I took a step forward and then back and I twisted him and then the next thing I knew I heard the knife clatter to the floor and footsteps.  
  
“You ok?” The Doctor asked as I stepped back.  
  
“I am now, cheeky mare, he almost cut me.” I said as I felt my neck.  
  
The Doctor then turned me and looked. “Nothing there, but where did you learn to do that?”  
  
“Oh I had a violent ex, I took self defence classes and also karate.”  
  
“Remind me not to mess with you.” he winked.  
  
The man was led away. The Queen then gave any of his accomplices a chance to come clean and she would be lenient on them. 6 more stepped forward.  
  
After all that the party sorry banquet resumed.  
  
We drank a little and chatted. Then I saw the shift in the Doctor. I walked over. “Time to go.” I asked.  
  
“No, this is for….”  
  
“Doctor, time to go.” I smiled.  
  
He nodded. He walked over to the queen who then ushered Ersha forward. She handed us two small vials, told us to wait until we reached the road across from the bridge and then drink it.   
  
I curtsied to the queen and prince and then I hugged Ersha.  
  
\---  
  
“Will I pass out again?” I asked,  
  
“No that only happens when you are shrank.”  
  
I nodded. “Chin, chin.” then I drank the vial.  
  
The Doctor did too.   
  
Then we grew. I looked back at the tree. “I will treat them with more respect now.”  
  
The Doctor smiled. The we took the ten steps back to the TARDIS. “There is one thing I am not happy with.” the Doctor said as we stepped into the TARDIS and he walked up the ramp.  
  
“What?” I asked as I sat on the battered old chair and took the shoes off.  
  
“I didn’t get to dance with you.”   
  
I dropped one of the shoes. “Pardon?”  
  
“Tonight, you looked divine dancing.” he seemed to blush a little too.  
  
“Divine? My dancing , never, I just copied you, the prince is better than he says.”   
  
“Mel…” the Doctor walked over to me. “Would you dance with me?”  
  
I gulped and nodded. Then from nowhere music appeared.   
  
We danced around the console for what seemed and age. “Doctor.” I whispered as I was now held close into his chest and I felt his head on mine.  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Do you dance with all of your companions?”  
  
“No, just two.”  
  
“Two?”  
  
“You and Rose, but I was in a different body when I danced with Rose.”  
  
“You miss her don’t you?”  
  
I felt him look down at me as I looked up. “Yes, but it doesn’t hurt as much, I know she is happy and safe and loved. That makes me happy.”  
  
“I would loved to have met her. She sounds like a good person.”  
  
“She is, I never had the chance to…” he stopped and then he leant against the console. The music stopped. “I have never spoken about this.” he ran his hands through his hair. “When I met Rose I hadn’t long regenerated, I had closed my hearts off, I had lost so much. But somehow a shop assistant from a council estate in London gave me the push I needed. I saw how fantastic life could be again through her eyes.”  
  
“When did you realised you loved her?”  
  
“I knew I felt something deep for her when we were in a morgue trapped. At that moment in time I wouldn’t have been anywhere else than there. But the moment I knew my other self loved her was when we met a Dalek, even that evil thing knew how I felt before I did. I thought I had lost her.”  
  
“And this body?” I was now sat against the battered chair, listening to the Doctor, I don’t think he had opened up in a long while.   
  
“I knew I loved her from when I regenerated, I loved her always, but I fell more and more for her as time went by, it wasn’t until I was stuck on Earth, I had sacrificed everything to help someone else. I was stuck on the slow path. I then realised I loved Rose. When I was given a way back I asked the lady to come with us. But she died before she could travel.”  
  
“Did you tell Rose how you felt?”  
  
He shook his head. Then I saw the tears behind his eyes.   
  
“Don’t hold them back Doctor, you need to do this.” I now stood in front of him.  
  
“She was trapped on the Parallel world, I had found one last way to say goodbye. I appeared on a beach. We chatted a little then she said it. I love you, she was sobbing. Then I said ‘quite right too,’ but the last words I said were ‘Rose Tyler’”  
  
“I am sorry.”  
  
“But the Metacrisis, the man she is no doubt married to now, he managed to say it. When she asked for that sentence to be finished.”  
  
“Well at least she knows. You will always love her Doctor. No one can take her place.”  
  
“I know, but she opened up my hearts to love again. After everything. I never thought I could.” then he looked at me, the look I had seen in his eyes earlier that evening. “I feel something for you.” he whispered.  
  
“I..I..”  
  
“I never took the time to look at Rose when I had the chance, but I am not going to let that happen again.”  
  
I felt his warm breath on my face. I realised he felt lust for me, I know I felt it for him but it was stupid, I hadn’t even know him 24 hours yet.   
  
“I wont pursue this if you don’t feel the same.”  
  
I looked up. “I feel….I mean I feel like I have known you for ages, not just a few hours. But you must know this. I have jumped in at the deep end before. When a man said he loved me after one day, he had wooed me with lots of soppy stuff, I fell hook line and sinker for him. But he took my heart and tore it out, ripped it in to a billion pieces stamped on it and placed it back inside me. He beat me, took my confidence away.”  
  
“I am so sorry.”  
  
“It took a documentary on TV and the help of a good friend to help me get away. I then changed. I decided I wasn’t going to be a doormat any more. I had a couple of boyfriends after that. But nothing serious. I held back from doing the deed. I was ashamed.”  
  
“He hurt you bad? Physically as well as mentally?” The Doctor asked.  
  
I nodded. “It was the night I left. He tried to stop me.” the dress I had on covered the scar I had, “He stabbed me as I ran, my friends husband stopped him from repeating it over and over. But I am not that sad little girl anymore, but sometimes I get low days. I just wanted you to know before we….well before I told you that yes I feel something for you.” I then let my head fall.  
  
“Mel, care to dance again?” he placed a finger under my chin and pulled my head up. He brushed the briefest of kisses across my lips.  
  
I nodded.  
  
We glided round the room again. It seemed like we danced for hours. We then stopped. I looked into his eyes and then he moved closer to me. Then he kissed me.   
  
His lips were cooler than a humans, but so soft. Then I felt his tongue seeking entrance to my mouth. I gently eased my lips apart, our tongues met and started a dance of their own.  
  
Unbeknown to me, we had started to dance again, down the corridor and towards my room. I broke the kiss before I passed out. We were stood outside my room. I looked up at him.   
  
“I know” he said.   
  
I smiled.  
  
“Goodnight Mel” he then kissed me and opened my door and I stepped in.  
  
\---  
  
I tossed and turned that night, not so much to do with the kiss and chat I had with the Doctor. It was the strange noises, there was a small constant hum. I wasn’t used to. I sat up and looked at the small clock.   
  
4:23 am.  
  
I then threw the duvet from me and padded over to the window. Instead of the waterfall there was a forest of silver trees, luscious red grass and a burnt orange sky. There were multicoloured birds flying in the sky. It looked beautiful. I went and used the bathroom. Then I wrapped my robe around me and sat on the chair next to the dresser.  
  
How my life had changed in such a short space of time. I took my mobile from the table in front of me. There were a few unread messages, so I opened them  
  
 _Hi Mel is it, this is Sarah Jane Smith, I don’t know if you know all about me. But I used to travel with the Doctor a while back. I just wanted you to know that I am here if you need to chat, any time. Travelling with Doctor can be brilliant but also daunting and having someone to talk with who knows what you are going through is good, oh and tell the Doctor he is long over due for a cuppa. Sarah._  
  
I smiled, I hadn’t even met this woman and I liked her already, I sent a short reply.  
  
 _Hello Sarah, its Mel, thank you for the text, I will be sure to tell the Doctor about his overdue visit. And yes travelling with the Doctor is fantastic and scary. I will no doubt take you up on the offer of a chat sometime. Thank you Mel._  
  
Then I opened another text  
  
 _Hi, my name is Captain Jack Harkness, I run Torchwood, which you may or may not know of. But you will. I am based in Cardiff. I hope to meet you soon as Martha says you seem a nice girl and I want to meet the new companion. Tell the Doc to come see us soon. Jack._  
  
I smiled and sent a message back.  
  
 _Hi Captain, I will tell the Doctor to pay a visit. I too would like to meet the friends who have travelled with the Doctor. Hope to meet soon. Thanks Mel_  
  
I then placed the phone down. I need a warm drink to help me drift off, but I didn’t remember where the kitchen was. Then the route appeared in my mind. I slid a pair of slippers on and ventured into the corridor.  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor had gone to the console room after he bid Mel goodnight, he was in jubilant mood, so he decided to tinker around.  
  
He had fiddled with some wires on the console then he had remembered. Martha had mentioned something about the swimming pool. So he had gone off to take a look.  
  
It turned out he had to take the whole motor to the pool apart, one small little screw had come undone and fell inside. This had took him best part of the night. He looked at the small watch he wore.  
  
4:23am  
  
He stood up, his shirt and tie long since flung behind him. He walked over to the small bathroom and washed his hands. He needed a cuppa before he could carry on with the last few bits of the motor. So he turned and headed for the kitchen.  
  
\---  
  
I found the kitchen easily, but I had a feeling I had a little help. I walked over and was relieved to find that all the electrical equipment was human, by the looks of it bought from Argos (other retailers are available). I grinned as I set about making some warm milk, I found some cinnamon and nut meg. I added this to the milk.  
  
The Doctor stepped into the doorway of the kitchen. He smelt the mix of cinnamon and nutmeg then he saw Mel. “Hello.”  
  
I almost dropped the cup as I heard the Doctor’s voice. I turned. “Hi”  
  
“Have trouble sleeping?”  
  
“Yeah, strange room, bed and noises, will take a little getting used too, but normally this works a treat.” I held up the mug.  
  
“Normally does, is there enough for two?” he asked.  
  
“You having trouble sleeping too?”  
  
“Erm, I don’t need that much sleep, but I have been up to my elbows in grease, muck, dust and motor parts and a nice warm milky drink will help me relax before I have to go back and finish off.”  
  
“There’s plenty.” I handed him my untouched mug. Then I poured another.  
  
“There should be some biscuits in there.” the Doctor gestured to the cupboard.  
  
I placed my mug down and opened the cupboard, some biscuits he said. The cupboard was full. “You call this some?” I said as I pulled a packet of digestives down.  
  
“Well normally if Jack was here they wouldn’t last more than a few days.” The Doctor said as I sat down.  
  
“Doctor.”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“I got a few texts before, from Sarah and Jack.”  
  
“Oh, Martha’s quick.”   
  
“Yes, but they both said you were sort of overdue a visit.”  
  
He looked at me. “I…haven’t really been in the mood to socialise, not since I left Rose and the other me. Then what I had to do to Donna.”  
  
“But you sort out Martha?”  
  
“No, that was an accident, I went exploring in India. There is a tribe of alien monkeys that live there and I wanted to check on them.”  
  
“Alien monkeys?” I looked at him.  
  
“There are a lot of aliens living on Earth, they just blend in. I pop in on them time to time to make sure they are abiding by the laws of the Shadow Proclamation.”  
  
“Oh and they are?”  
  
“Out of space police is the best way to put it. Anyway I was just coming back from their village when I smelt Martha.”  
  
“Smelt?”  
  
“Yes, humans have a unique smell, and the fact she was wearing perfume. I found her. UNIT, that’s who Martha works for officially, but she also helps Jack out. Any way. I found her camp and after I helped her sort of a misunderstanding with said monkey’s I offered to give her a lift home. She jumped at the chance, not wanting to have a long flight home. Then as always we got side tracked. We ending up on a couple of adventures. Which on one Martha caught a cold. But asides from that, the last few months I have been on my own. Just floating in the Vortex, popping to Earth now and then. But I couldn’t bring myself to face the others.” he looked down at his mug and started to twist it.  
  
“Have you told anyone about what actually happened?” I asked as I took a sip from my mug.  
  
He shook his head. “I told Martha the basics, left Rose and the other me on the Parallel world, and that I had to wipe Donna’s mind and leave her back home. But not the why fully.”  
  
“Why not?” I asked.   
  
“Because it hurts to much. I mean I love them all equally.”  
  
“Some a little more than others.” I pointed out.  
  
“Yes, but they are all happy and have someone. At the time I was on my own, I didn’t want to go and say look I am sad and lonely. I lost my two best friends on the same day.”  
  
“Doctor, they are you friends, no scratch that, we are your family.”  
  
He looked at me.  
  
“Why don’t you tell me what actually happened, then you may find it easier to tell the others. They will understand Doctor. I am sure.”  
  
“I am glad that I came into your store today. You are just what I need.”  
  
I blushed.  
  
“No, I mean it, I wasn’t looking forward to taking Martha home, I didn’t want to be on my own. But now I don’t have to be, I found you and I happy, for the first time since I left Rose and Donna I am truly happy and that is because of you.”  
  
“It hasn’t even been a day yet.”  
  
“I know, its mad, but if it feels right go with it I say. I let a chance like that pass me by once, not again.” the Doctor reached over and took my hand.  
  
“Well for once in my life I seemed to have found a nice, sweet, loving and caring man, and he has to be an alien.” I laughed.  
  
The Doctor did too.  
  
“Now tell me what happened?”  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor sat and told me about how he had left his *Metacrisis* on the Parallel world to be with Rose, so she could help him as he had been born in battle. Rose had helped the Doctor find himself again, she could do that with this new version. Then came when he had to wipe Donna’s mind. A TimeLord Metacrisis can handle the human part, but a human cant handle the TimeLord part. It was killing her.  
  
It broke his hearts to have to wipe Donna’s mind and make her back into a woman who shouted at the world and just got on with things. Instead of taking life by the reins and riding it all the way. Even her gramps had said she was better with him. He had then locked himself away and grieved for the loss of them both.  
  
He tried to fight back the tears but I told him, let the emotions out. Bottling them up is no good. So he cried. Then I told him a little more about my past.  
  
“I met Billy through a friend. I didn’t have many boyfriends through school and college. I had only had one serious one and that ended when I found out he was being serious with more than me. Billy seemed the bee’s knees, he had the looks, money and the charm. Girls were dying to go out with him. But for some reason he asked me, I was gobsmacked. He wined and dined me, I was for the first time in my life, the envy of my friends. Things happened fast, I let him bed me on the first night, I moved in three days later. Then he asked me to marry him. Once I agreed to that my life changed.”  
  
“He had a certain standard he liked. I had to be seen and not heard. I was like a possession. But I thought I was in love and let him do it. After a while the violence started, not physical at first. It was I looked to frumpy in this, too fat for that. Then my hair wasn’t straight enough, he slowly wore me down. He moulded me into this thing he wanted. I was no longer me. But one night we were out at a function of some sort, I bumped into an old childhood friend, I spent most of the night chatting and laughing with her.”   
  
“I wasn’t at Billy’s beck and call, I paid dearly for it that night. Once I got home the blows reined down. He must have done this to other girlfriends as he hit me where the marks wouldn’t show. I put up with that for three years. Then one day, I watched a programme, and it was like my life was being played out in front of me. I ran, I took only my keys, passport, phone and coat. I left everything an I ran. I still had a couple of friends and they helped me.”  
  
“Did he ever find you?”  
  
“I saw him once in the street a few years later. He looked withdrawn and lost. I then found out, after I had ran he found another girl, but she fought back, took him to court, he lost everything.”  
  
“Good.”  
  
“I know, but I too locked myself away after that. Like I said I had a few boyfriends, but because I wouldn’t *put out* they left me. I threw myself into finding a job, I had no qualifications. I floated from job to job and then landed my current job.”  
  
“What a pair we are.” the Doctor grinned.  
  
I then yawned.  
  
“A tired pair.” the Doctor added.  
  
“Well it is now…” I looked up at the clock… “6:03 am”  
  
“Well I am going to nap for a little while.” the Doctor said as he placed the two dirty mugs in the sink.  
  
I looked up at him. Then I made a decision. “Doctor.”  
  
“Yes.” he was now looking at me.  
  
“Erm…..would you like to nap with me?” I blushed and lowered my head.  
  
I felt a finger crook under my chin and pull my head up. Then a soft and gentle kiss. “I would love to nap with you Mel.”  
  
I smiled.  
  
The Doctor took my hand and led me to my room.  
  
\---  
  
I shifted in my sleep and I felt the arms wrapped around me. I smiled as I remembered the Doctor and I had fallen asleep together. We had chatted a little more, then the Doctor had gone and changed into a pair of men’s pyjamas. I smiled as I wore a similar pair. He then slid in next to me. I turned and lay closer to him. He was asleep. His lips were slightly parted and his breathing even. I don’t think he had, had a good sleep in ages. I then snuggled into his chest. I hadn’t felt this safe for years.   
  
I must of nodded off again. I opened my eyes and saw the Doctor looking down at me,  
  
“Morning.” I smiled.  
  
“Afternoon actually.” he grinned.  
  
“Afternoon?” I raised an eyebrow.  
  
“Well just after-noon.”  
  
“Funny.” I playfully slapped him.  
  
“Sorry couldn’t resist, so a quick breakfast and then…..” he stopped.  
  
I sat up. “Then?”  
  
“Well I think we should go and see Sarah and Jack.”  
  
“Only if you want to.” I placed my hand on his arm.  
  
“I want to, as long as you are with me.”   
  
“I will always be with you.” I leant up and kissed him.  
  
The Doctor deepened the kiss. I felt my hands move up into his hair and pull him in closer.  
  
The Doctor also placed his hands in my hair. Then I broke the kiss. I looked up at him. “Sorry…I..”   
  
“It’s fine Mel, I could kiss you all day and not want anything else.” he smiled at me.  
  
“Really?”  
  
He nodded and then gave me a gentle kiss. “We need to make a move.”   
  
I nodded.  
  
\---  
  
After we had some toast and coffee. The Doctor went off to get dressed and so did I. I hung up the dress the faeries had made. Who knows when I would get to wear it again. I then picked up my holdall, I had only packed a weekends worth, but my jeans and an old Beatles t-shirt were to hand. So I changed into them, pulled on my converse and brushed my hair and tied it back in a pony tail. I picked up my black fleeced jacket and then opened the door.  
  
The Doctor was stood there. “Hi. You look nice.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“You do.”  
  
I looked at the Doctor he was wearing a blue suit with a red pinstripe, a light blue shirt and red tie, then I looked and saw the dark red converse.   
  
“See something you like?” he winked.  
  
I blushed. “Nice shoes.”  
  
“Back at you. Now come on.”  
  
\---  
  
Sarah Jane was hard at work finishing her latest story. Luke was upstairs with Clyde. Rani was on holiday with her parents. There had been no alien shenanigans for a few months now. The world was slowly rebuilding itself after the Dalek attack. She hardly heard from the Doctor since he had dropped her back on Earth.  
  
She had heard from Martha, she had bumped into the Doctor in India. They spent some time travelling. She had said the Doctor had seemed low. But then he was his normal self. She also said that he had found a new companion. A girl from Newcastle. Martha said that the doctor and Mel had clicked as soon as they met.  
  
Sarah was hopeful the Doctor had found someone who would stay with him for a while. Martha had said The Doctor had to leave Rose and his other self on the Parallel world and had to wipe Donna’s mind. But he wouldn’t say anything more.  
  
Sarah worried about the Doctor sometimes, he seemed to get younger with each regeneration, but older and wiser, sadder too. She sighed.  
  
Then came the knock on the door.  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor had landed the TARDIS on the end of a road. “So no-one see’s it?”  
  
“Nope.” he popped the ‘p’ “It has a perception filter on it. You can see it but don’t want to. It blends in.”  
  
“A police box?”  
  
“Yes, I landed in the 1960’s and the chameleon circuit blew, I didn’t have the part to fix it, plus I like it.”  
  
“The Retro look.” I teased.  
  
“Yeah,” the Doctor slid his hand into mine. I had no idea where our friendship/relationship was going. But I was happy to be along for the ride.   
  
We walked down and turned onto Bannerman Road. Then down to number 13.  
  
“So this is where Sarah Jane lives?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“She in?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“You sure?”  
  
“I did a scan before we left the TARDIS.” he then tapped on the door.  
  
\---  
  
“Lousy timing I was almost done” Sarah said as she placed her glasses on the desk and went to get rid of the caller. That was until she opened the door.  
  
“Hello Sarah Jane.”  
  
“Doctor.” Sarah hugged him. Then she turned to me. “You must be Mel.”  
  
“Hi.” I waved and then I to was pulled into a hug.  
  
Luke had heard him mum shout and came running down. “Mum.”  
  
“Ah Luke, I meet you at last.” The Doctor grinned and shook Luke’s hand.  
  
“Master.”   
  
I almost fell over when I saw a metal dog. “Doctor.”  
  
“Mel Wallace meet K9.” The Doctor beamed.  
  
I crouched down. I then rubbed behind the *dogs* ear. “Thank you mistress.”  
  
“Your welcome K9.” I then stood up. “He is lovely.”  
  
I saw the robot dogs tail waggle. “And this is Luke.” The Doctor introduced Sarah’s son.  
  
“Hi.”  
  
“Well come in off the street.”  
  
“What’s all the noise.” a young black boy appeared.  
  
“Clyde.” Luke turned “This is the Doctor and Mel.”  
  
“Hi.” we both said together  
  
“Hello, Luke, Maria is getting ready to log off.”  
  
“I’m coming, Doctor, Mel I wont be long.” then Luke ran up the stairs.  
  
“Teenagers.” Sarah smiled. “Now tea.”  
  
\---  
  
We sat in the kitchen as the Doctor and Sarah chatted. Every now and then the Doctor would take my hand and hold it for a short time.  
  
Sarah noticed this. She smiled to herself. “So Doctor, how have you been since I last saw you.”  
  
I looked at the Doctor, the question he had been dreading. I took his hand and held it. “Go on.”  
  
“Doctor? Is everything ok?” Sarah looked concerned.  
  
“What did Martha tell you?”  
  
“Just that Rose and the other you were on the Parallel world and Donna, well you had to wipe her mind.”  
  
I looked at him. “I think I need some fresh air.” I stood up.  
  
“But……..” The Doctor went to say.  
  
“You can do this.” I smiled and then kissed him on the cheek and walked into the garden.  
  
\---  
  
I don’t know how much time passed, but it was Sarah Jane who came out to find me.  
  
“Mel.”  
  
“Hi.”   
  
“He is having a little nap.”  
  
“Talking takes it out of you.”  
  
“You seem to have a good effect on him. Normally he would never have explained the why and what.”  
  
“It’s a part of the process.”  
  
“Process.”  
  
“Grieving. From what I heard, and it wasn’t in detail he just moves on, bottles up what happens and moves on. But he couldn’t move on this time, Rose is happy with his Metacrisis, Donna had to become Donna again, not the person she should be and it hurt him. I just coaxed him to talk.”  
  
“Which is something not many people can do. I can get some details out of him. I know he never mentioned Gallifrey to Rose. Because the one time I did she gave me this look.”  
  
“Gallifrey?”  
  
“My planet.” the Doctor said.  
  
“You never said its name.”  
  
“It was beautiful, it had rolling hills of red grass.”  
  
I looked at him. “A burnt orange sky and a forest of silver trees?”  
  
“Yes, how did you know?”  
  
“The window in my room it had a view of the red grass, the trees and the sky.”  
  
“The TARDIS, she was showing you my home.”  
  
“So how long have you been travelling with the Doctor?” Sarah asked.  
  
“Well it will be 24 hours now.”  
  
“24 hours, and you and he…” Sarah stopped herself.  
  
“Yes Sarah, Mel and I, we are…..well we are at the beginning of something special.” The Doctor sat next to me.  
  
“You two just seem right, like you……”  
  
“……and Rose.” I finished.  
  
“Yes, but there is this spark, it was there with Rose but is seems to be so brighter this time.”  
  
“Yeah well there is something and I am taking the leap this time. I let it pass me by once I am not letting it pass by again.” The Doctor held my hand tight.  
  
“Well good for you, took you long enough.”  
  
“Sarah, you know how the TimeLords were about *physical relations*”  
  
“That was true? I thought you just made it up so you didn’t have to put up with all those love sick girls.”  
  
“No it was true.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“In the laws of Gallifrey, you didn’t have a physical relationship. You bonded with your appointed mate and then the offspring were made in a lab, implanted into the   
TimeLady.”  
  
“So you didn’t…” I looked at him.  
  
“They didn’t no, and for a while I didn’t. but then I kissed Grace.”  
  
“Grace?”  
  
“She helped my 8th self when my regeneration went wrong. Then Rose. But the first kiss was to save her life, when I took the time vortex from her and I regenerated. The second she was possessed and wasn’t her. Then Martha, I had to do a genetic transfer. The Donna kissed me to shock me whilst I was poisoned.”  
  
“So you don’t go round kissing?”  
  
“No, well not until yesterday, when I decided to hell with the rule.”  
  
“Thank you.” I smiled. He had broke a rule he had lived by and kissed me.  
  
“Right are you staying for lunch?”  
  
The Doctor nodded.  
  
“Ok, then I think I should crack on and make a start.”  
  
“Can I help?” I asked.  
  
“Sure.”  
  
“I think I will go and see what the boys are up to.” The Doctor said.


	3. Chapter 3

Sarah and I chatted as we made some sandwiches.  
  
Then Sarah called the boys down.  
  
“Mum, the Doctor beat my high score.” Luke said as he sat down.  
  
“Well Luke he is the Doctor.” Sarah pointed out.  
  
So we chatted about everyday things, joked and laughed. The Doctor seemed so happy. Then came the time for us to go.  
  
“Don’t leave it as long next time.” Sarah said to the Doctor as she hugged him and handed him a cake tin.  
  
“I wont.” he smiled.  
  
“We wont.” I corrected him.  
  
“Yeah, we wont.” The Doctor said as he took my hand.  
  
Sarah hugged me and whispered ‘Good Luck’ in my ear. I knew what she meant, this was sort of new territory for the Doctor and me. I nodded.  
  
We walked back to the TARDIS hand in hand. Then he snapped his fingers and the door opened.  
  
“Wow. That’s a neat trick.” I nudged him.  
  
“Yeah, a friend showed me how to do it.”  
  
“So.” I said as I closed the door behind us. “We off to meet *Captain Jack*?”  
  
“What did Sarah Jane say?”  
  
“Not much, just that he is from the future, had lived some time in the past until he met up with you again. And that he will try and bed anything.”  
  
“True.”  
  
“Well he wont get anywhere with me. I am one man..” I looked at the Doctor. “Sorry one TimeLord woman.”  
  
“Good.” The Doctor smiled and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. “But he will try.”  
  
“Yeah well this is one woman he will fail with.”  
  
The Doctor gave me a look. “Oh I cant wait to see his face.”   
  
\---  
  
Jack was sitting at his desk, Mickey, Ianto and Gwen were hard at work. They had just sorted out a spate of Weevil attacks. Jack was bored. He loved being here with Ianto and the gang. But he missed the sense of adventure he had with the Doctor.  
  
It was then he heard it. The sound of the TARDIS materialising.  
  
\---  
  
“So you can just bypass his security and land inside?”  
  
“Yes, but Jack doesn’t know that until now.” The Doctor smiled.  
  
\---  
  
“What?” Jack ran out of his office as he joined the others looking at the TARDIS.  
  
“Jack how?” Ianto asked.  
  
Jack just shrugged.  
  
\---  
  
“Come on, lets go meet Captain Jack.” The Doctor held his hand out. I then picked the cake tin up.  
  
“We can bring this.”  
  
“Ok, tea and cake.” the Doctor smiled.  
  
\---  
  
Jack watched as the Doctor and a woman stepped out, “Doc.” Jack stepped forward.  
  
“Captain.”  
  
“And you must be Mel.” Jack placed his hand out.  
  
I shook it.   
  
“You bring a gift?”   
  
“Well its from Sarah, but I thought we could have a piece and a cuppa and get to know each other.”   
  
“That…is a good idea, he.” Jack pointed to the Doctor. “Normally turns up whisks me away on some wild adventure.”  
  
“Not this time,” The Doctor spoke.  
  
“No, tea, cake and chat.” I added.  
  
\---  
  
Jack, Gwen, Mickey, Ianto, The Doctor and I were all sat round a table. Ianto had insisted on making the tea and coffee.  
  
Jack and the others spoke about what they had been up to.  
  
Then came the question. “So what happened after we left?” Jack was the one who asked it.  
  
I looked at him and then gave his hand a squeeze.  
  
Jack looked at the Doctor. “Ok you lot back to work.”  
  
The others gave Jack a look. “Work.”  
  
They filtered away.  
  
“Erm, Jack where is the bathroom?” I asked.  
  
“No, you stay this time.” The Doctor said.  
  
I sat back down.  
  
“After I left you, I made one last trip.”  
  
“Ok I know that part.”  
  
“Just listen to the end ok.” The Doctor said.  
  
Jack looked at the Doctor, he looked sad, but then this girl, Mel took his hand and the Doctor closed his eyes and continued.  
  
Jack listened as The Doctor told him exactly what happened. How Rose kissed the other him after being told he loved her. How he had wiped Donna’s mind in order to save her life.  
  
Then he spoke about how he locked himself away, accidentally bumping in Martha. Then meeting Mel. Then he paused.  
  
“You never normally tell anyone about this Doc.”  
  
“I know. But I had to, I needed to. I cant…….I cant go back to what I was before.” the Doctor placed his head in his hands.  
  
“You should of come to me, that’s what I’m here for.” Jack leant across the table and pulled the Doctor’s arms away.   
  
I looked at him. All the emotion in him came to the surface. He had locked it away for too long.   
  
Jack was shocked when the Doctor actually broke down in the arms of the woman sitting next to him. The Doctor normally so cool and didn’t let his emotions be seen.  
  
I held him for a little while. “Jack do you have somewhere he can rest?”  
  
“Sure there is a sofa in my office.”  
  
“Doctor.” I leant in. “Come on.”  
  
He stood. “I wont be a moment.” I then led the Doctor out. Jack pointed out where his office was.  
  
\---  
  
Mickey came over to Jack as they watched this woman lead the Doctor away.  
  
“Is he ok?”  
  
“He…..broke down.”  
  
“Pardon?”  
  
“You heard, he’s grieving the loss of Rose and Donna.”  
  
“But he……”  
  
“I know, but she seems to be helping him. And there is something between them. I cant put my finger on it.”  
  
“She is coming back.”  
  
\---  
  
“I am turning into a wuss.” The Doctor said as he sat on the sofa.  
  
“You are not, you have never had to time to grieve properly have you?”  
  
The Doctor shook his head.  
  
“You just jump from one thing to the next.”  
  
“I know.”  
  
“I know it’s hard for you, but talking about it does help. But it’s also draining. No matter what species.”  
  
The Doctor then yawned at that moment. “You sure you can handle Jack?”  
  
“Yes, you rest a little.”  
  
“I am so glad I met you.”  
  
“I know. Now rest.”  
  
“Not for long.” he lay back.  
  
“A few minutes ok.”  
  
“Fine.”  
  
\---  
  
I closed the door and turned and bumped straight into Jack.  
  
“Ok what have you done to him?”  
  
“I…he needed to open up. He bottles everything away. He hasn’t had time to grieve. Not just over the loss of Rose, and Donna, but his planet, his family and friends.”  
  
“I…..how long have you been with him?”  
  
“One day.”  
  
“You got him to do all this in a day?”  
  
“I didn’t get him to do anything. We chatted. And ….” I stopped. “Well after he told Sarah Jane what happened he seemed so much happier. It’s doing him good. Talking about it does.”  
  
“Who did you lose?” Jack asked.  
  
I took a step back. “What?”  
  
“You have to have lost someone to know the grieving process.”  
  
I never spoke about it. “I……I..”  
  
“Sorry, I just know because I lost someone, well a few someone’s over the years.”  
  
I just stood there   
  
“Well, if you ever need to chat…or anything else.” he winked.  
  
“Ah, sorry but I am sort of in a relationship.”  
  
“Darn it…who is the lucky man or woman?” he smiled.  
  
Then the door of the Jack’s office opened. “Me.” The Doctor said.  
  
“You.” Jack looked shocked.  
  
“Yes me. Got a problem with it?” the Doctor winked.  
  
We then moved back into Jack’s office. “You two have only known each other a day?”  
  
“Yes, but there is this…..I don’t know Jack, but I let one person slip through my fingers I am not doing it again.”  
  
Jack nodded. “She is happy though?”  
  
“She has me, sort of.” The Doctor said.  
  
“And your happy?”  
  
“I am, its at the beginning Jack, like you said it’s only been a day.”  
  
“But Doctor, TimeLords don’t…..”  
  
“I know that.” I butted in.  
  
“So your willing to have a none physical relationship?” he asked.  
  
“Who said it was none physical?” The Doctor arched his eyebrow.  
  
“But there are TimeLord rules.” Jack stated  
  
“Yes, and I am the Last of the TimeLords, so I am amending the rules, which are stupid. I happen to like physical contact.”  
  
“Me too.” Jack winked.  
  
“Sorry, I am … what was it you said Mel?”  
  
“Well I said I am a one TimeLord woman.”  
  
“Right so … I am a one human woman type of TimeLord.”  
  
“So, you two have *done the deed*?”  
  
“No, Jack am I not you I don’t bed everything as soon as I see it. This is something special and I sorry we want it to work.”  
  
“But you said you like physical contact?”  
  
“Yes, I like doing this.” The Doctor said.   
  
Then before I knew it I was pulled into a very, very passionate kiss.  
  
Jack just stared. He had never seen TimeLords be physical with anyone. He knew about how they evolved into a none physical race and bonded by mind only. How their offspring were made in a lab and then placed into a TimeLady to grow. But here was the Doctor kissing a human. He knew that old big ears had once kissed Rose, but that was to save her. Then Rose had told him about the kiss she had given the Doctor when she was possessed. But nothing had happened. Martha had gotten a kiss, or a genetic transfer, Donna had kissed him too. “Blimey let the girl breathe Doc, you have a respiratory system not Mel.”  
  
The Doctor broke the kiss and I wobbled a little. Then I took in a few gulps of air.  
  
“Sorry, but like I said I like doing that.”  
  
“I can see that.” Jack gestured to the Doctor’s crotch.  
  
The Doctor blushed a little. Then he turned his back. “Sorry.”  
  
“Don’t be.” I smiled.  
  
\---  
  
We chatted a little longer and then the Doctor said it was time to go. I was glad, not because I didn’t like Jack or any of the others. But I was tired, the broken bits of sleep I had last night were catching up with me.  
  
So we said our goodbyes and headed to the TARDIS.  
  
I noticed the Doctor was walking a little awkward. Still feeling the effects of the kiss he had given me. I knew deep inside me I wasn’t ready yet. But the Doctor had been celibate a lot longer than me. So I took matters into my own hands (literally)  
  
“Doctor.”  
  
“Mmmm,” he mumbled as he set about placing the TARDIS in the vortex.  
  
“Can I help you with that?”   
  
He turned and looked at me. “Help me with what?”  
  
“That.” I gestured to his crotch.  
  
The Doctor looked down. He couldn’t hide his bulge. “Sorry…..”  
  
“I think we have both been celibate a lot longer than we imagined. Well a lot, lot longer for me than I thought.”  
  
“I never thought I would ever…” I walked over and place my finger on his lips.  
  
“Let’s put and end to that.” I kissed him hard and as passionate as he had kissed me. But I moved my hand down towards his penis. I had done oral sex before. I had been forced to do it a lot, but I had done it to boyfriends after that but it was more to keep the relationship going. Once they found out I wouldn’t do anything more than that they were gone. But this was different. I wanted to do it.  
  
We broke the kiss. “You don’t…….”  
  
“I know but I want to.” I slid his jacket from his arms. I then folded it to make a cushion on the floor. I knelt down.  
  
I looked up at the Doctor who looked down at me. I then undid his button and zip, then I pulled his trousers down. I got a shock. He wore no underwear. He blushed slightly.  
  
“Well I wasn’t expecting that.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“You going commando.”  
  
“Well they are a snug fit and plus you would see the outline.” he winked.  
  
I then took his hard and firm length in my hand. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the console. I then knelt up high and kissed the head.  
  
“Mmmm.” came from his lips.  
  
I then slowly took his hard c**k in my mouth little by little. I gagged a couple of times until I found my rhythm.  
  
“Oh…..god….yes.” he moaned.  
  
I then toyed with his balls with my other hand. He then thrust faster into my mouth seeking release. I pumped him in and out of my mouth faster.  
  
“God….yes………Mel………I…god…….I’m gonna.”  
  
Then as I sucked down and then slowly up he exploded in my mouth.  
  
My name tore from his lips as he came hard and fast. I kept the pace up as I milked him until he was spent. I then swallowed and let his flaccid c**k slip from my mouth. I looked up at him.  
  
He opened his eyes and looked down at me. Then he pulled me up and kissed me. I knew he could taste himself on my lips and inside my mouth. After a punishing and passionate kiss we parted. “Thank you.”  
  
“Your welcome.” I panted.  
  
“Now it’s your turn.” he smiled at me.  
  
“Its fine.” I said.  
  
The Doctor then kicked his converse off and stepped out of his trousers. “No it’s not. You give and give. When was the last time you received?”  
  
I tried to think.   
  
“That long.”  
  
I nodded. “I didn’t give to receive.”  
  
“I know, but if we are in a relationship. Which I believe we are. You give and then I give.”  
  
I nodded. I hadn’t expected to get anything, I just wanted to help him.  
  
The kiss I got was divine. He guided us back until I felt the chair behind me. Then the Doctor ran his hands down my front. Over my breasts, I felt my nipples harden as he passed over them. Then he held the hem of my t-shirt. I felt it being lifted over my head.  
  
The Doctor then fell upon my breasts as they were encased in their prison. Then he used small kisses down towards my belly button. His fingers then made short work of my jeans. He pulled them, my panties and my converse off. I stood there in only my bra. I was breathing heavy.  
  
The Doctor then undid his tie and then unbuttoned his shirt and slid it off.  
  
I felt my pu**y getting wetter as he did this. He then used my jeans as a cushion and knelt down. He moved my legs apart as he started to kiss his way down one and then up the other.  
  
I threw my head back as he did this. It had been years since someone had taken the time to actually stimulate me. My senses were in overdrive. I moaned as I felt his warm breath at my junction.   
  
He then stood and lifted me so I was on the chair. Then he knelt back down. He placed my legs over his shoulders. He then kissed my pu**y.  
  
I almost climaxed there and then. I felt his tongue slip inside me. Then he moved my legs down and stood up. He then kissed me. I pulled him in closer and deepened the kiss. Then I felt his finger tease inside me.   
  
I broke the kiss as he then thrust in with two fingers. I was moving on the chair, I started to raise my hips in time with his fingers. I then clamped around his fingers as I screamed his name. I saw white light as I did this. The Doctor kept the pace up until the orgasm started to fade. I opened my eyes and looked at him.  
  
“I..” I went to say it but stopped. It was too soon, after one day?  
  
“I love you.” The Doctor said it first.  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yes, I don’t know what it is, but I was drawn to you. You have unlocked things inside I had long since locked away. I love you with every beat of my hearts.”  
  
“I love you too. I think fate has pushed us together. Two wounded souls.”   
  
“I want to make love to you so much.” The Doctor said.  
  
I sat there. And in that moment I wanted him to. So I shifted forward, I raised my right leg to his hip. “I want you too.” I whispered.  
  
“You sure?”  
  
I nodded. “I want you to make me whole again.”  
  
The Doctor nodded. He then lined his c**k up at my entrance and slowly slid in.  
  
I closed my eyes as we were joined. I felt complete as he filled me. It had been a long while. “God.” I threw my head back as the Doctor started to thrust inside me.   
  
I knew I wouldn’t last long. It seemed the Doctor wouldn’t either. I clamped around him and triggered his own orgasm off.  
  
It took a few moments for us to get our breathing and heart rates back to normal. I felt the Doctor fall from inside me. He then picked me up and carried me to his room.  
  
\---  
  
We snuggled down into the bed. I was sleepy now.  
  
“Mel.” The Doctor said gently.  
  
“Mmmm.”  
  
“Who did you lose?” he was stroking my hair.  
  
I looked up at him. “I….”  
  
“I know it hurts but you have helped me with some of my pent up emotions.” he lay on his side now, resting on his elbow.  
  
“It ….” I took a deep breath. “It was a long time ago. I was 17, my Dad was at work, my sister was out with her boyfriend. My Mum was on call. Me and little brother Matt were playing cars. He was only 5, he had been a shock arrival to mum and dad. Any way. Mum got called out. I was left in charge of Matt.” I sat up now. But the Doctor didn’t move.  
  
“Everything was normal. Dad was on night shift, Alie had rang and said she was staying out. Mum also rang and said she would be late, so I bathed Matt and read him a bedtime story. Then I left him to sleep. The estate we lived on was a bad one. Dad was a policeman, we were often targeted. But this night it was bad. I didn’t know until later. But Dad had arrested one of the main drug dealers. So they had decided to teach him a lesson.” My voice started to break now.  
  
The Doctor sat up and pulled me too him. He didn’t utter a word.  
  
“They petrol bombed the house over and over. There was a huge gang. They didn’t care that there was a young child in the house. Before I knew it the house was engulfed. I tried to get to Matt. I could hear him screaming.” the tears were falling hard and fast now. “I tried and tried. But the smoke got to me.”  
  
“I am so sorry.” The Doctor held me closer as I cried harder.  
  
“They found Matt under his bed, clutching his teddy. I was found first. I still say to this day that they should of checked the front room first. If they had maybe he would of lived.”  
  
“Did they find the gang?”  
  
“Yes, after it emerged that Mum and Dad were out and that a child had died, the community turned on the gang. Mum and Dad almost parted over their grief. But after help they grew closer.”  
  
“But you grew apart from them?”  
  
I nodded. “I felt that they blamed me. Alie told me they didn’t but I then fell for Billy. He was my ticket out.”  
  
“You carried this guilt around and then what he did.”  
  
“Yes, but like I said I got help. It did help but….”  
  
“I know.” The Doctor and I then lay down.  
  
I yawned and cuddled in to him and I listened to the thrum of his hearts.  
  
\---  
  
I awoke on my own. Which was strange at first, but then I remembered the Doctor didn’t need as much sleep as a human. So I pushed myself from the bed and grabbed my robe and went to look for him.  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor had slept for a couple hours and then woke. He had slipped from Mel’s embrace. Then he walked naked back to the console room and picked both sets of clothes up. He placed them into the laundry room. Then he headed to his room and got dressed.   
  
He then went back and finished off putting the pool motor back together.  
  
\---  
  
This is where I found him.  
  
“Morning.”   
  
“Hi.” he stood up. “Sleep well?”  
  
“Yeah, but I do have a problem.”  
  
“Oh?”  
  
“Yeah, I need to pop back to my flat.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“I need clothes Doctor.”  
  
“Oh, I see. Right then.”  
  
\---  
  
I picked up the post and some of my clothes that were lying around. The Doctor walked into the small kitchen. “Tea?”  
  
“Please.” I replied as I walked into my bedroom. I flicked on my answer phone.  
  
 _“Hey you, we have arrived, cant wait to see you love from Kay, Sandy, Laura, Pearl, Denise and Stephanie.”_  
  
I sat on the bed. It seemed like weeks ago since I had last been here. I must have been away a little too long as the Doctor tapped on the door.   
  
“You ok?”  
  
“Yeah, its just my friends.” I pointed to the phone.  
  
“Ah. Well like I said we can make the meeting.”  
  
“I know, I just wondered.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Well we could drop by and say a quick hello, then we could go.”  
  
“You want me to come with you?”  
  
I nodded.   
  
“Want to show me off.” he winked and I blushed.  
  
“Well……yeah.” I smiled.  
  
“Well then best get you dressed and packed.” he held his hand out.  
  
\---  
  
The meeting went well. The girls were shocked when I turned up with a man.   
  
Kay had took me aside and asked if he had any single friends. I had to let her down gently. Told her that most of his friends were in relationships.  
  
We spent half an hour chatting. Then we left with a promise to keep in touch more often.  
  
We went back to the TARDIS laughing and joking.  
  
\---  
  
Soon the weeks flew by. The Doctor took me back in time and we met Sherlock Holmes. We helped him to catch his arch enemy Professor Moriarty. Then it was in the future. I was stunned at how things changed.  
  
Our relationship flourish. I had now moved into the Doctor’s room, which was ours now. We made a point of going to Jack and Sarah on a Sunday as the Doctor said. ‘Nothing ever happens on a Sunday, Sunday’s are boring.’  
  
We awoke one morning and the Doctor seemed a low. He was quiet and mulled around. He kept looking at his watch. Then he looked at me.  
  
“I….I need to do something.”  
  
“Ok.”  
  
“But, its something promised I would do every year. Sort of closure thing.”  
  
“Ah is this to do with Rose?”  
  
He nodded. “When I first lost her, I went to the memorial at Canary Wharf and laid a single Rose and a lily.”  
  
“And after she found you?”  
  
“I decided to leave the Rose and Lily on Dalig Ulv Stranden.”  
  
“That’s beautiful, its keeping her with you. But who is the lily for?”  
  
“Her Mum.”  
  
“Oh, well then you do that.”  
  
“You don’t mind?”  
  
“Why should I?”  
  
“It’s just…”  
  
“Doctor, Rose helped you to become the man I love, and I love her for that. It is your way of dealing with it.”  
  
He grinned.  
  
\---  
  
Soon enough our first year together came. It had gone by so quick. I didn’t want to mark it. But the Doctor decided different. He took me to Venice. We wined and dined and then made love, he could be so passionate in the bedroom but also so tender. I fell in love with him more and more each day.   
  
Unbeknownst to us things were unfolding.  
  
\---  
  
A group of people had finally managed to figure out how to bring back the Master. They had tried three times and failed. But then they found the missing link. Lucy Saxon.  
  
Lucy Saxon had been jailed for crimes against the crown. She was sentenced to her majesties pleasure. They had also found a ring. The Master’s ring. They used that, the secret books and potions of Saxon, and the template from Lucy Saxon.  
  
\---  
  
It had been a normal Sunday, Lunch with Sarah and then cake with Jack. Martha had now left UNIT and joined Torchwood. I also noticed that she and Mickey were getting closer.   
  
The Doctor and I were just leaving the hub when it happened. The Doctor sniffed.  
  
I turned and looked at him.  
  
He sniffed again.  
  
“Your not getting a cold are you?”  
  
“No, I…it cant be…he is long gone.”  
  
“Who?”  
  
“I….a TimeLord can smell another TimeLord, and for a moment I could smell the Master.”  
  
“But like you said he is long gone. You burnt his body.”  
  
“I know. Strange.”   
  
It wasn’t until Jack and the gang came running out of the hub.   
  
“Doctor there’s been an explosion.”  
  
“Where?”  
  
“Longsfield.”  
  
“I will meet you there.”  
  
“What’s Longsfield?”  
  
“It’s where people who need to disappear are sent. And the last person sent there was Lucy Saxon.”  
  
“Oh and you just….”  
  
“Exactly.”  
  
\---  
  
“Ha! Ha! Ha! Finally.” the Master spoke. Five people lay dead.  
  
“Harry.” Lucy said.  
  
“No, not Harry my sweet Lucy.” he gave he a look. “Master.”  
  
“Yes. My Master.” Lucy smiled, she loved this man/alien with all of her heart.  
  
“Come my dear, we have to go, leave this place.”  
  
Lucy nodded.  
  
The Master then looked at a man stood in the corner and nodded.  
  
They were well clear when the bomb went off. The Master sniffed. He could smell the Doctor, also the freak. “We will meet Doctor. In all good time.   
  
Lucy giggled as she once more took her place by his side.  
  
\---  
  
4 hours we spent helping Jack sift through the rubble after it had been deemed safe. All we found were charred remains. I stepped across from the team. Then I looked down. I saw something red.  
  
“Doctor.” I yelled as I picked up the book. ‘The Secret Books of Saxon’ engraved on the front. There was some fire damage to it.  
  
“What is it?” The Doctor asked.  
  
“I found this.” I handed the book over.  
  
“This confirms it, he is back, I don’t know how. But he is back.”  
  
\---  
  
The Master researched the World Wide Web. He followed what had happened since his darling wife had shot him. He had placed the command in her mind. If he was ever captured by the Doctor, and she was there she was to shoot him. He would rather die than spend the rest of time with that old man. He laughed.   
  
He learned about the Adipose, the Atmos in the cars and Davros and the Daleks.   
  
He also found some pictures of the *mad man and his followers.* there were a few pictures of the Doctor with a blonde woman, then with Miss Jones, then with a red head and currently he was with a brunette. “Going for the whole colour chart are we Doctor.” he uttered to himself. He stood up, he straightened his tie then he held his hand out. “Come with me Lucy, we have some work to do.”  
  
\---  
  
I watched as the Doctor poured over the book.  
  
Gwen, Ianto, Mickey and Martha had left to go back to the hub. Jack was stood next to me on the TARDIS.  
  
I watched the Doctor, he looked … well wild … he was yelling How? Why?  
  
I went to go to him.  
  
“Best not.” Jack put his hand out to stop me. “There is a lot of history between him and the Master.”  
  
“He only told me a little about the year that never was. He said it was terrible.”   
  
Jack held my hand. “It was, but it never happened for everyone else apart from me, Martha, Tish, Clive, Francine, Lucy and The Master. Everyone else forgot. But it was bad, and if he is back.”  
  
“Oh he is back but he will hide, I can smell him yes, but he is good, he cloaked himself once he will find a way to do it again. All we can do is wait.”  
  
“For what?”  
  
“His first move.” The Doctor closed the book.  
  
“So we just stand by as he grows stronger?”  
  
“I don’t know where to look, yes I can smell him, but… its hard to pin point.”  
  
“Doc, you have to find him, he cant be left to do what he did last time of have you forgot?”  
  
That was such the wrong thing to say.  
  
“FORGOT!!! I WONT EVER BE ABLE TO FORGET JACK.!!!” The Doctor bellowed.   
  
I took a step back, I had never seen him like this.  
  
“YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT I WENT THROUGH JACK, THE THINGS I HAD TO DO, SO HE WOULD LEAVE YOU, TISH, FRANCINE AND CLIVE ALONE.” the Doctor picked the book and threw it across the room towards Jack.  
  
I ducked as it came flying through the air. I knew it was never meant for me. But something inside me, a memory from what I had gone through with Billy surfaced. I felt the tears fall.  
  
The Doctor was now full of rage. The Master back, wasn’t good. But Jack…. Well Jack had said the wrong thing. The Master would be expecting the Doctor to go waltzing in straight away. So he vented his anger without thinking. He threw the mallet and the spanner soon followed as the Doctor started yelling in Gallifrayean.  
  
As soon as the spanner flew past I lost it, I was scared, I just saw Billy in one of his tempers not the man I loved. So I ran.  
  
Jack just watched as Mel ran crying her eyes out.  
  
“YOU JACK HARKNESS HAVE NO IDEA” the Doctor now returned to English  
  
Jack walked over to the Doctor, who had a small golden orb in his hand. “Doctor.”  
  
“DON’T JACK, STEP AWAY.”  
  
Jack then grabbed him. “DOCTOR, ITS MEL.”  
  
The Doctor then stopped. He looked at Jack and then across to where Mel had been standing. He saw the book close to where she had been standing and the spanner. “Oh no.”  
  
“What? Is she ok?” Jack asked.  
  
“I…oh god Jack, stay here. I have to find her.”  
  
“Doctor.”  
  
“She had a bad experience with someone ok, and I just went off on one and ….”  
  
“GO.” Jack said.  
  
\---  
  
I ran and ran. Looking for somewhere to hide, in the end I ran into a small room, it was bare, it only had a bed and a small WC off in the corner, I then ran into the WC and sank to my knees.   
  
I knew it was silly, but I had never seen the Doctor that angry. And this Master had done that to him. I had saw my ex there, I remembered one of out last rows when he had hurled all kinds at me. But the last thing had been a spanner, that had actually hit me, I was concussed for 3 days. Told the Doctor I had fallen.  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor begged the TARDIS to help him, he had to find her. “Please.”  
  
Then the room appeared, he knocked on the door. “Mel.” he said softly.  
  
\---  
  
I had just closed the door to the WC when I heard the knock and my name whispered.  
  
“Mel please, I am so sorry. I would never knowingly do that to you.”  
  
I hesitated, Billy had always apologised and said he never meant it. But deep down I knew the Doctor actually never meant it. I gingerly unlocked the door.  
  
The Doctor held his breath as the door opened. Then he saw her, her face all puffy and red eyes. “I am so sorry, It was just, Jack shouldn’t of said that. He doesn’t know what The Master is capable of, the things he had wanted to do to them all. I kept silent and begged him in my mind to focus all his hatred and anger on me.”  
  
“I know, it was just…” I looked around the room. “Not here” I said.  
  
“No.” he held his hand out and I took it.   
  
We walked down the corridor until we came to the living room. We sat on the sofa.  
  
“One of the last rows Billy and I had was bad. He threw things, but it just so happened one of the things he threw was a spanner, a big one, bigger than yours and it hit me. I was concussed for 3 days, had to lie of course. And when I saw the spanner today.”  
  
“Your memories took over”  
  
I nodded. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me Doctor, not on purpose.”  
  
“I couldn’t, I love you too much, as soon as Jack brought me out of my tantrum and said you had gone, I realised what had happened  
  
“Doctor, the Master. He is like you?”  
  
“He is a TimeLord but he is the complete opposite to me. He is evil to the core, clever with it though, always has been.”  
  
“So you have known him a while?”  
  
“He’s like my arch enemy.”  
  
“Your Moriarty?” I smiled  
  
“Kind of yes, but he knows me as well as I know him.”  
  
“But it wasn’t always like that was it?” I asked.  
  
“No, we used to be best friends, grew up together.”  
  
“So what went wrong?”  
  
“When a TimeLord/Lady are eight years old we are taken in front of a tempered Schism, a tear in the fabric of reality, part of the time vortex, we look into it, some run, some go insane, some just stare.”  
  
“So the master went insane?”  
  
“Not at first, he was quiet when he came back. He said he could hear a noise in his mind. But we brushed it off, we were children. So we studied and played. But inside something ate away at him. After a few days he started to get into fights at school. Koschei.”  
  
“Who?”  
  
“That was the name the Master was given, after you look into the Schism you are given a name, that was his. He had been a good student before that. But he was kicked out of the academy, he didn’t turn on me at first. I tried to keep him sane. I knew it was because of what he had saw.”  
  
“What did you do when you looked into the vortex thing?”  
  
“Me I turned and ran like a girl.” The Doctor smiled.  
  
I smiled with him.   
  
“But the final straw was when we finished the academy, his father managed to get him back in. we both finished top of the year. We were then placed into a part of the dome, to *watch* over the whole of time and reality, not interfere unless absolutely necessary. This day we had been told to do an extra duty.”  
  
I felt the Doctor take my hand.   
  
“His parents had been called to a meeting in the high council chambers. Someone tried to kill the president, one of our own. But missed their target and killed his Dad.”  
  
I clamped my hand to my mouth.  
  
“His mother was caught up in the stampeded of TimeLords trying to protect the Lord President. She was killed in the crush. In that moment we were watching something happening on some little planet. When we heard all the commotion. We headed over to the main room. There was carnage. Koschei was taken away. I was sent home, somewhere I now hated to be.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“My father was shall we say not happy with the choices I made in my life. I deliberately went out of my way to help others, whether or not I should have. My mother nicked named me the little physician.”  
  
“So that’s where you got The Doctor from?”  
  
“In a way yes.”  
  
“What was your name?”  
  
“Thete or Theta.”  
  
“I like those.”  
  
“I used to.. But my father ignored me, spent most of his time praising my older brother Pantran. It was always why cant HE be more like his brother. He always blamed the human part of me.”  
  
“Pardon?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“*Human Part*?”  
  
“Oh my mother was half human. It was against the law at first. But for some reason the TimeLords allowed this union. I don’t know why. But they were married. My elder brother Pantran, elder sisters Cheen and Loal were full blooded TimeLords. They were grown the way all Gallifrayean’s were but for some reason I was conceived through physical love.”  
  
“You mean your mother actually gave birth to you?”  
  
He nodded. “It still happened. Not every TimeLord and Lady restrained from physical touch. But I was one of the few. But most of those conceptions didn’t make it. But I did. And as grew up it became clear I was different. Anyway Koschei found out about the death of his parents. We attended the funeral. He had an aunt that was looking after him. But at the funeral he lost it. He yelled and pushed everyone away, then he looked at me, I had been *the brother he never had* was what he said all the time, but that day I was a freak, something that should have been killed. Then he left, he took a TARDIS and left.”  
  
“So your half and half?”  
  
“No, my mum never got the chance to regenerate, the more a TimeLord Mix regenerate the more they become a TimeLord, so as I have done it ten times, there isn’t as much left in me now, I think my handy spare hand, which now has a body to go with it, got all my human DNA.”  
  
“So he left.”  
  
“Yeah, I heard whispers about him now and then how he had gone mad, he kept getting hurt and using up his regenerations.”  
  
“What happened to you in this time.”  
  
“I met a TimeLady, settled down, grew some kids of my own.”  
  
“Kids?”  
  
“Yeah, a boy and a girl.”  
  
“I never knew.”  
  
“There’s more, I watched them grow into adults and have kids of their own, my youngest grandchild was called Susan, she was so much like me it was scary. I was getting old by then. But I heard whispers and rumours about how the rules had changed and mixed race TimeLords were going to get their regenerations revoked as they didn’t deserve them. So that night I spoke to my wife, I told her of my plan, I asked her to come but she said no. so I packed up and headed to the TARDIS scrap heap as it was called. I then found this old girl, I spent a little time making sure she could fly when I heard a knock. I jumped but it was my son. He had his daughter with him. She had asked to come with me, to make sure that I had a reason to come home.”  
  
“So you and Susan went travelling.”  
  
“Yeah, I *borrowed* this TARDIS and never looked back, the rule never got passed but by the time I found out I was too old. I died, the first and only time I died and regenerated with out being forced.”  
  
“Does it hurt?”  
  
“Yes and no, its strange at first, having all those memories going round in your head. When I first went back to Gallifrey after I was allowed back they forced me to change. Then they only came a calling when they wanted something done. The renegade TimeLord they nicknamed me. But then when I was in my eight body I was called home, that was when the TimeWar broke out. I met the master a few times along the years, he always tried to kill me, but he never did. He came close the last time though, he is dangerous , even more so now, because he knows he and I are the last two.”  
  
“Thank you.” I lifted his hand to my lips and kissed it.  
  
“What for?”  
  
“For telling me, it must be hard for you.”  
  
“It’s easier with you around and I am sorry I scared you, next time I throw something, throw it back at me.” he winked.  
  
I smiled then he kissed me, I knew we would be ok. Until the Master dealt his hand that is.  
  
\---  
  
The next few months passed by, the Doctor lost the scent of the master but he had been expecting that. But what happened next I wasn’t expecting  
  
I woke to an empty bed, which was a rare thing, the Doctor was always there when I went to sleep and was there with a steaming mug of coffee when I woke, but not today. I got up and slid on my robe and slippers and used the bathroom and headed to the kitchen.  
  
I was walking down the corridor when I heard the curse. I turned and headed towards the cursing TimeLord. I stood at a door. It was jammed open with a chest. I tapped on the door.  
  
The Doctor looked at me. “Oh, is it that time already. I am so sorry you woke alone.” he got up and came over and kissed me.  
  
“Its fine. What are you doing?” I asked.  
  
I looked around, the walls were a very pale pink, there was clothes strewn across the bed, the dresser had make up and perfume on it.  
  
“I am closing a chapter in my life for good, the TARDIS normally does this, locks the room away and until the occupant comes back, but this occupant cant.” he said with a low voice as he placed some of the clothes into the chest.  
  
Then is dawned on me. “This is Rose’s room?”  
  
“Was. Its just a room now.” he said as he placed a few more items of clothes in the chest.  
  
“I….you want me to leave you be?” I asked gently.  
  
“No, I have been trying to do this all night,” he said sharply.  
  
“Ok, how about I go make tea for you and coffee for me and then I help?”  
  
“Sounds good,” he smiled.  
  
\---  
  
We spent a good few hours packing up all of Rose’s things, he kept a bottle of her perfume and a pink fluffy animal that neither of us knew what animal it was. I wasn’t jealous, he needed to keep something of Rose’s around, she had changed him for the better.  
  
\---  
  
The Master grinned as he finally got the piece he needed. He had spent the last few months gather all the info on the Battle at Canary Wharf. He knew from the Doctor’s mind that there had been some sort of breech, he wanted to reopen that breech, if he could get himself across to this parallel world he could start a fresh, be the only Timelord, no Doctor to interfere. He grinned. He needed a few things to make sure it happened. He had ditched Lucy, wiped her mind and her families. He didn’t need her. She had served her purpose. He also knew that the Doctor’s precious Rose was on this world too, he would be happy to look her up and have her as a pet.  
  
He was only one step away from reopening the breech and the Doctor had no idea.  
  
\---  
  
The TARDIS closed the room up, with the packed chests inside. And then the room was locked and the door was gone. “Now only Rose can gain access to this room.” he took my hand.   
  
We reached the console room when the Doctor’s mobile shrilled.  
  
“Hello?”  
  
“Doctor, he has played his cards.” Jack said.  
  
“On our way”   
  
\---  
  
The Master had been busy in the months since he came back from the dead. He had a hidden base built when he was Harold Saxon. So that was his new home. The Doctor didn’t know about these. From his secret base he accessed the Archangel Network, it wouldn’t hypnotise the world just hide him from the Doctor.   
  
He then sat down and started his plan.  
  
It had taken him a while but he made himself a new laser screwdriver. Then he found a way to access the files from Torchwood 1. He read through them and laughed. This was going to be fun.  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor materialised inside the hub.  
  
“Jack?”  
  
“He set this to us, well me.” Jack held out a disc.  
  
“Is it safe?”  
  
“Don’t know, haven’t been able to get it to work.” Ianto said from behind.  
  
I stepped out.  
  
“Hi.” Jack smiled.  
  
“Hello, maybe the disc will work on the TARDIS?”  
  
“Mmmm maybe, but if it has a virus or something on…..Ah hang on.” The Doctor thrust the disc into my hand as he ran into the TARDIS.  
  
“How’s he been?” Jack asked.  
  
“Better, we can chat later.” I whispered.  
  
Then the Doctor came back out with this huge cable.  
  
“What is that?” Jack asked.  
  
“It will help your computer to play the disc.”  
  
“So its fine if its corrupted and melts my software down?” Gwen said.  
  
“It wont, I am using the best anti virus a computer can have.”  
  
Gwen looked at him.   
  
“The TARDIS, she can protect herself and the computer, she can scan to see if there is a virus on it and kill it before it can wipe anything from your files or her own.”  
  
“Promise?”  
  
“Scouts honour.” The Doctor smiled.  
  
“Now that’s an image I cant get out of my mind.” Jack nudged him.  
  
The Doctor just ignored him and connected the cable, then I handed him the disc.  
  
After a few seconds the screen came on.  
  
 _Ah hello, long time no see. I suppose you think there is a virus of some sort on this. Well sorry to disappoint. All this file contains is me.  
Right, straight to business. I have found a way to finally be rid of you and you to be rid of me._  
  
The Doctor looked at me, he was puzzled.  
  
 _Your thinking What! How! Is he insane! Well yes to the last one as always. Now, I will show you and image of where I am,_  
  
A picture came on the screen.  
  
I saw the Doctor pale, his fists clench.  
  
 _Well, Thete, think you can stop me? Like to see you try. You have 60 seconds from ……………NOW!_  
  
The Doctor yanked the cable from the connection, then he ran, I was hot on his heels as was Jack, we didn’t have much time. The Doctor snapped his fingers as Jack and I got in. He was running round. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no.” was all he said.  
  
“Jack?”  
  
“That image was from Canary Wharf. The breech room.”  
  
I looked over to the Doctor.  
  
Then we took off and then with a bang landed. The Doctor barged past and snapped his fingers and the door opened.


	4. Chapter 4

The Master stood there. No doubt he would have the disc now. He stood at the wall where breech had been. He pointed the laser screwdriver at it. He was poised to press.  
  
Then he heard it, the sound of a TARDIS. Then the Doctor ran from the TARDIS.  
  
“Ah, ah ahhhh, don’t come any closer.” The Master waved the laser screwdriver.  
  
“Why?”  
  
“You have to ask.”  
  
“Is this to get at me? Because if you …”  
  
“Oh how to shut him up, oh this isn’t to get at you, well not just at you. But just think a whole other universe, no TimeLords there, I can find a planet and rebuild.”  
  
“You want to start a race of TimeLords, on your own?”  
  
“No, I will have to mate wont I to get the first inbreed, like you are.”  
  
“I am not an inbreed” The Doctor yelled.  
  
I stood at the door, Jack had stepped out.  
  
“Oh look if it isn’t your pet freak.”  
  
“Nice to see you again too.” Jack mocked.  
  
“Who is the shy baby at the door?” the Master asked.  
  
“Mel.” The Doctor held his hand out.  
  
I gingerly stepped out.  
  
“Oh don’t tell me, a new pet, you do love to play with Earth girls.”   
  
“I do not.”  
  
“Well since you have a new one I know who I will mate with, willingly or unwillingly.” he laughed.  
  
“You wont lay one finger on Rose. If you do I will hunt you down and do what should have been done properly the last time.”  
  
“Oh is little Theetie wheetie threatening me.”  
  
“No it is a promise, hurt Rose or any of her loved ones and I will cross the void to find you and KILL you.”  
  
I squeezed his hand.  
  
“Well, how will you know if I do?”  
  
“Oh I will know.”  
  
The Master just laughed. Then he pressed the button on the Laser screwdriver.   
  
“Grab hold of something Jack.” the Doctor yelled.  
  
“What about me?”  
  
“Your safe Mel, you haven’t travelled between parallel worlds.” The Doctor yelled as the wind picked up and the Doctor and Jack were lifted from the ground. My hair blew around but apart from that I was fine.   
  
Then the Master pressed something. “Ta, ta.” then he was gone.   
  
The Doctor watched as the breech closed. The wind stopped and he stepped down. He then placed his hands on his head and closed his eyes.  
  
“Rose.” he whispered.  
  
“Doctor.” he added.  
  
\---  
  
 **ON PETE’S WORLD**  
  
Rose and John were sat in their living room. It had been three years, three years since the Doctor had left them on that windswept beach. They were married and happy.  
  
John had told her that he loved her, she had kissed him and then watched as the Doctor and Donna disappeared in the TARDIS. She felt a hand slip into hers. She looked and saw the Doctor. Then she turned and pulled him into another kiss.  
  
They were never apart from that moment. He took on the name John Noble-Smith, in respect of the two people he saw as his parents. So they set up in Rose’s flat and John started working at Torchwood.  
  
The years rolled by. They went on adventures, he learnt the hard way that he couldn’t regenerate when he had been stabbed, it had really hurt, he was used to being able to just go into the infirmary, or into the Zero Room, he used the infirmary at Torchwood but no Zero Room, meant he had to heal at the normal human rate. He did heal a little quicker than most humans, (he was thankful of that)  
  
Rose had been wounded to, but she had come off best.  
  
They had spoke about kids. They had done some tests as the Doctor had mentioned about Gallifrayean DNA and human DNA didn’t meld together well. That was one of the reason John knew his dad (the Doctor) had to wipe his mother’s (Donna) mind.  
  
So they used double protection, Rose was on the pill and they used condoms.  
  
John had been feeling as if he was being watched lately. But he knew it was stupid.  
  
But as they were sat in their living room something happened.  
  
 _Rose._  
  
Rose sat up. “No.”  
  
 _Doctor._  
  
John sat up now.   
  
“You heard that too didn’t you?” Rose asked.  
  
John nodded. Then he felt it, a small push in his mind. He placed his hands on his temples and closed his eyes.  
  
 _Doctor, erm I don’t know if that’s your name still, he has crossed over. I cant do this for long. Just know the Master is in your world, look after Rose and he …..Weeeeeellll no doubt your family, but protect them all. I will try and help. Warn me if anything happens. Thank you._  
  
“John. John” Rose pushed her husband.  
  
He opened his eyes. “We need to get to the mansion.” he said as he got up.  
  
“Why?”  
  
“Trouble with a capital M.”  
  
\---  
  
 **OUR WORLD**  
  
I watched as the Doctor took his hands from his temples. “OK, they are warned. Now we find a way to cross, we need to stop him.” he said as he stood. He looked around the room.  
  
The Doctor felt the anger, the pain, and the misery he had felt the last time he had been in this room. He couldn’t help it, he turned and walked over to the monitors.   
  
He threw them from the table, yelling in Gallifrayean.  
  
Jack went to step forward. “Leave him be, he needs this.” I said as I stopped him.  
  
Jack just nodded and then headed into the TARDIS.  
  
I just stood there and watched the grief and anger of the TimeLord.   
  
After about 10 minutes, there were no monitors left, the glass in the doors were shattered. He was crouched against the white wall where the master had gone through. I slowly walked to him.  
  
“Doctor.” I said gently as I crouched beside him.  
  
“He will head for them, Rose first.” he sniffed as he looked at me. I held his hands, which were bleeding.  
  
“I know, but at least you warned them, now lets get these hands of yours seen too and then we can deal with HIM.” I went to pull him up but instead he pulled me in for a kiss.  
  
I let him lead, he needed this. The kiss was deep, hard, passionate and full of love.   
  
We broke, panting.   
  
“R…r…right your hands.” I stuttered.  
  
\---  
  
Jack looked across as the Doctor and Mel walked in.   
  
He noticed the blood on the Doctor’s hands. “Doc you ok?”  
  
The Doctor nodded. Then as we passed the console he stopped. He held his hands out, one had quite a cut on the palm of it. The other had a few grazes, he knew he couldn’t hold or press any levers.   
  
“Jack, Mel could you.” he gestured to the console.  
  
“Sure.” we both said.  
  
We pressed the buttons and levers he pointed to and then we rumbled and he declared we were in the Earth’s orbit.   
  
“Time for some rest.” Jack said.  
  
“Yes, and you infirmary lets get those hands sorted.” I told the Doctor.  
  
\---  
  
Ow! Ouch! Blimey! And few choice swear words came out of the Doctors mouth as I cleaned the wounds.  
  
“Doctor, I should wash your mouth out.” I tried to lighten the mood.  
  
“After these.” he held his hands up. “Are healed I will find a way to cross the void, I have to stop him.”  
  
I nodded. I knew he would go, but would it be just him. I placed some black gooey stuff on his hands and then wrapped them in some bandages. “Right, bed mister.”  
  
“But.”   
  
I placed a finger on his lips. “I will bring us some supper in. ok?”  
  
He nodded.  
  
The Doctor headed to their room, I watched as he did, I then headed to the kitchen.  
  
\---  
  
Jack was sat in the kitchen having some toast and coffee.  
  
“He ok?”  
  
I shook my head. “His hands will heal, but he wont rest until the Master is stopped.”  
  
“Did he tell you?”  
  
I nodded.   
  
“Bad?”  
  
“Yeah, right he needs food and tea, tea is healing.”  
  
“It is for him a cup of tea saved him and the Earth a few Christmases ago.”  
  
“Ah the Sycorax.” I smiled.  
  
I did some cheese on toast for us both and made tea. I placed it all on a tray and headed for our room.  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor stood in the middle of the room. He had managed to kick his converse off, he had shrugged out of his jacket, he had fumbled with his pants, he was thankful he wore nothing underneath. But as he came to his shirt buttons he stopped, his hands were throbbing from the black goo on them. So he tore it open. “There goes another one.”  
  
The door opened. “Good job I am good at sewing buttons on.” I placed the tray down, I looked at him stood there in nothing but a torn shirt and his socks. “Sit down.”  
  
“I…”  
  
“Doctor, sit down.” I urged. He looked so lost, he was worried for Rose and her family.   
  
I pushed him back onto the bed. Then I kissed him.   
  
He sighed into the kiss, then I felt him moan as I ran my hands through his hair.   
  
I sat up, then shuffled back so I was standing. I looked at him, then I slowly removed my clothes, the last thing to go was my bra.   
  
The Doctor was sat up now, his c**k was semi erect. I moved back onto the bed.  
  
“I cant…..” he went to say.  
  
“I don’t want you to, I want to do this.” I kissed him again. I lay him down and I kissed both his eyes, then down his nose, across his right cheek to his ear, then back across his nose and left cheek to his left ear. This was very sensitive, he moaned as I tongued his ear. Then I moved down his neck, down to his chest.  
  
I ran my hands through the fuzzy hair, then I leaned in and kissed his nipples and lightly bit them.  
  
“God Mel.” he moaned.  
  
I smiled as I then kissed my way down to his belly button, I tongued that and then lightly scraped the scar on his tummy.   
  
I felt his c**k twitch.   
  
“God I need ….. too.”  
  
I then placed a kiss on the tip of his c**k. Then I moved to straddle him. He looked up at me. His eyes were filled with love. I slowly lowered myself onto him.  
  
He thrust up as I went down.   
  
We slowly set up a rhythm, we were slow at first, but then he thrust up faster, he needed release. I reached down between us, I then toyed with my cl*t as I rode him hard and fast. Then I screamed out as I came, I clenched around him and triggered his climax.   
  
He screamed my name over and over until he was spent. I placed a soft kiss on his lips.  
  
“Thank you” he whispered.  
  
“Your welcome, now I think the cheese on toast will be fine, but the tea will be cold.” I moved to lie beside him.   
  
“Grab the sonic, setting 3.2”  
  
I did this.   
  
“Point it at the cups, they will reheat.”  
  
I smiled.  
  
We ate and drank then I fell into a deep slumber.  
  
\---  
  
 **Pete’s World**  
  
The Master found himself stood in the middle of the room he had just left, except for one difference.  
  
This was a working Torchwood.   
  
A man with blonde hair turned and looked at Master. He gasped as he tapped a button. “Intruder Alert.”  
  
“Now, is that anyway to welcome a refugee?” The Master smiled.  
  
\---  
  
Pete Tyler got the lift to the Rift Room, it was always manned, had been since Rose had first come here.   
  
“What is it?” Pete asked.  
  
“Sir, this man says he is the Doctor?”  
  
“Doctor?”  
  
“Yes, I regenerated.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yes, there was a fight and my world was dying, I was lucky I made it through, the thought of coming back to Rose kept me strong.”  
  
“Coming back to Rose?”  
  
“Yes, I knew in the end I would always follow her here.” the master smiled. He was trying his best.  
  
“Doctor, you do remember the last time you saw Rose?”  
  
“Yes, on a beach.” he remembered that from probing the Doctor’s mind the last time he had the Doctor where he wanted him.  
  
“Ah, so you also know about….”  
  
At that moment in came John and Rose.  
  
The Master looked, “Ah, didn’t think of that. So he made a half-breed.”  
  
“I am no half-breed.” John said with venom.  
  
“Hang on Doctor….” Pete said,  
  
“That is not the Doctor, that is the Master.”  
  
“You mean?” Pete looked back at the dark haired man.  
  
“Yes hello, yes I am the Master.” then he struck. He grabbed Rose. “You are so predictable. As for you Doctor.”  
  
“It’s John actually.” John pointed out.  
  
“John Smith, please couldn’t you come up with a better name”  
  
“Its John Noble-Smith actually mate.” Jake said.  
  
“Ah a little twist on it. But all to no avail, I have the upper hand. I shall take my new pet, across the stars of this parallel world, something you cant do.” The Master laughed.  
  
“I will stop you.” John spat.  
  
“I have no doubt you will try, but I am a TimeLord you, you aren’t even that.” then he pressed his laser screwdriver and they were both gone.  
  
“Ok, who the hell is the Master?” Pete yelled.  
  
\---  
  
 **On the Tardis**  
  
I awoke to an empty bed. Not that I was expecting him to be there. I quickly got up and showered and dressed, we had a fight on our hands.  
  
I found the Doctor and Jack in the console room. “Morning.” I smiled as I spoke it, I walked over and kissed Jack on the cheek then the Doctor on the lips. “So have you found a way through?”  
  
“Yes, with a little help from Jack, Torchwood, Mr Smith and K9.”  
  
I looked at him puzzled.  
  
“When the Master went through the TARDIS scanned, she has the numbers, but to be able to keep the breech open and keep the Daleks and Cybermen inside will take a lot of power, so hence the rift, the TARDIS, K9 and Mr Smith.”  
  
“And Jack?”  
  
“His vortex manipulator is the key to our getting there and getting back.”  
  
“So how long after the Master getting there will we arrive?”  
  
“I have no idea, it could be hours, days, weeks or even months.”  
  
“Well we have to do it, we have to save that world, make sure Rose is safe and then get back to ours.” I grinned.  
  
“That” Jack grinned back “Sounds like a plan.”  
  
“Yes it does, that is one of the things I love about her.” The Doctor winked.  
  
I gasped, that was the first time he had said he loved me in front of someone.  
  
“So Allons-y.”  
  
\---  
  
We had to hold onto each other’s hands as we rode through the void. The TARDIS would keep the Daleks and Cybers at bay, whilst the rift helped them to get through and K9 and Mr Smith kept the breech open.  
  
There was a wall of silence when we landed.   
  
“Hang on.” I whispered. “Have we actually moved?”  
  
“Yes,” the Doctor nodded. “Look no TARDIS, but where is every one.  
  
Then the door opened.  
  
“Doctor.” Jake said  
  
“Jake, what the hell happened?”  
  
“The Master happened.” Jake said in a matter of fact way. “Come with me.” Jake said to the three new occupants of the Breech Room.  
  
“Are we safe?” The Doctor asked.  
  
“Yes, he wont come back here for another hour, he has gone to ……….” Jake stopped when he looked at the Doctor.  
  
“Gone to what?” Jack asked.  
  
“Never mind.”  
  
“Ok, so how long has he been here?”  
  
“About 8 months.”  
  
“Wow, and what has he done?”  
  
“Well when he first arrived he pretended to be you for a few moments, that was until John came in.”  
  
“John …. Oh the other me.”  
  
“Yes, but the Master was quick, he grabbed her before anyone could stop him. Called her his new pet.”  
  
“Rose.” That was all the Doctor said.  
  
“Yes, then they vanished, said they were going to travel the stars.”  
  
The Doctor just looked at Jake.  
  
“Is Rose …. Ok?”  
  
“Oh she is fine, the Master still has her, but after 8 weeks he came back, he managed to infiltrate our government.”  
  
“Don’t tell me, 15 satellites in earth’s orbit.”  
  
“Yeah, and he is now known as..”  
  
“…..Harold Saxon.” Jack the Doctor said together  
  
“I take he has tried this before.” Jake said.  
  
“Yes and what came next doesn’t bear thinking. So you said he wouldn’t be coming here for an hour?” The Doctor asked.  
  
“Yes, he comes here once a week, checks for any cracks or something.”  
  
“So, how come you know him as The Master not this Saxon bloke?” I asked.  
  
“It was something John said, he whipped up some small chip like things and planted them in me, Pete, Jackie, himself and kept one for Rose, but he also made three more, he must of known you would come.” Jake held out three small chips in three separate vials.  
  
“So, if we have them implanted we wont be effected by these satellites?” I asked.  
  
“Yes, but first.” The Doctor took them from Jake, he held his sonic screwdriver up to them. He pressed the button, and then he smiled. “Ok, they are safe and I have also activated the tracer on them.”  
  
“There’s a tracer?” Jake asked.  
  
“Yes, but you needed a shot from this.” The Doctor held his sonic up. “To get it work proper.”  
  
“John has one similar to that.”  
  
“I don’t doubt, now can you get us to John?” The Doctor asked.  
  
“Cant we use this?” Jack asked.  
  
“No, the more we used it the more chances he will know we are here. Speaking of which, he isn’t the only one who can hide himself.” The Doctor reached into his pocket. “I knew these would come in handy again.” The Doctor held up three keys on a string.  
  
“The perception filter keys.” Jack grinned.  
  
“What are they?”  
  
“We put them on, people an see us but don’t care that they can.”  
  
“Brilliant.”  
  
The Doctor handed them to Jack and I. We slipped them on.  
  
“I can still see you.” Jake said.  
  
“You want to see us.” The Doctor said.  
  
“Now take us to John.”  
  
\---  
  
The Master was sat in his huge mansion. “I think we should hold a party.” he looked at the people in front of him.  
  
“Yes sir, a very good idea.” a man said.  
  
“Yes, you know who invite. Oh lets make it a masquerade ball. After all I have much to celebrate.” he threw his head back and laughed.  
  
\---  
  
Rose was sat in her room. She was sobbing. She had seen terrible things when she travelled with the Doctor, even seen some during her time here with John. But all that paled into significance when it came to what the Master had done. She placed her hand on her wrist.   
  
There was a thick bracelet, not the nice kind. The Master had made it. He had tested it a few times. It shocked her and hurt, there was one setting he hadn’t tried on her. But she had seen it tried and tested. The people, aliens died in horrific pain. So she had to do as he asked.  
  
She was glad he abided by the *rules of the TimeLords* no physical contact with other species. Rose’s heart longed for her husband. She had seen him in the background of things.  
  
*Harold Saxon* allowed her husband and parents to remain free, but it was announced that she had now fallen in love with this new man. But that was a lie, it was so no-one would wonder why she had vanished. She attended the odd function. But mostly she was his housekeeper. She prayed and prayed he would get his comeuppance.  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor, Jack, Jake and I managed to get down into the basement.  
  
Jake tapped on a door.  
  
“Hang on.”  
  
I looked at the Doctor, it was his voice that had spoke. But it wasn’t. then the door opened.   
  
“Finally.” John said.  
  
We all traipsed in.  
  
John looked at all of us. “Ok, how the hell did he come back?”  
  
“Wellllll,” The Doctor told him about the books of Saxon.  
  
“So he came here to *mate* with Rose?” John snarled.  
  
“Well I don’t think he would, not until …” he stopped. “He doesn’t know I am here, so she is safe until then. I hope.”  
  
“YOU HOPE!!!!”   
  
I saw this man, he was so like the Doctor but so different.  
  
“It’s the best I can offer. I will get her back for you.”  
  
“So you haven’t come back for her?” John lowered his voice.  
  
The Doctor shook his head. “No.” The Doctor looked at me.  
  
“Oh.” was all John said. “So how do you plan to save Rose?”  
  
“Wellllll.”  
  
\---  
  
Rose heard the ring of the bell. Time to go serve the Master.  
  
“Ah hello there, I have some good news, you may get to see your husband.”  
  
Rose felt her heart jump.  
  
“Shame it will be the last time.” he laughed.  
  
Rose just looked at him.  
  
“You can have one last night with him. Because after this party we will be leaving this planet for good, then the Sontaran’s can have it.”  
  
Rose just nodded.   
  
“You have permission to ring him, tell him to come to the party, infact I will do it.” The Master stood up and walked over to the phone, he brushed his hand passed her hair.   
  
\---  
  
The phone in the lab rang.  
  
John looked at it.   
  
“Hello Dr John Noble-Smith Torchwood.”  
  
“Hello half-breed.”  
  
John felt the anger rise in him. “Master.”  
  
The Doctor looked across.  
  
“I just thought you may like to know, that I am giving you one last night with your wife.”  
  
“You are full of jokes.”  
  
“No this is me being absolutely true, I am, sorry we are leaving this miserable little planet soon, I am throwing a party to celebrate. So you can have one last night, but I will give a specific time for her to be back, if not then BOOM!”  
  
John jumped. “Can I speak with her?”  
  
“Two minutes.”  
  
John looked at the Doctor.  
  
“John.”  
  
“Rose.”  
  
“I miss you.”  
  
“I miss you too.”  
  
The chatted for a few more moments then the master came back on. “The party is in two nights. It is a masquerade party, Rose will arrive in your care on the morning, then she must attend the party as we have an announcement to make, if she is not there for 8 pm, I will detonate the bracelet, then from 9pm until midnight you can be together. But then we will be gone.”   
  
The line went dead.  
  
“What?” The Doctor said.  
  
“I think we have a way in.”  
  
\---  
  
I watched as the Doctor, John and Jack put together a plan.   
  
The Doctor would pose as John at the party, I was to attend as Jack’s guest. We would be safe as we would be masked and hidden, the Master didn’t know we were there.  
  
Rose arrived on the morning of the party.  
  
She and John embraced and kissed.  
  
I held the Doctor’s hand as we stood in the corner.   
  
He looked at me. I knew it was hard for him to watch Rose be with someone else. I squeezed his hand.  
  
“Oh John, I don’t know how we can stop him. He said he was gonna leave this planet to the Sontaran’s. They will make it a clone world.”  
  
“We have an idea.”  
  
“We?” Rose gave him a look. “Who is we.”  
  
“Hello Rose.”   
  
Rose spun and saw him. The Doctor, but then she noticed he was holding the hand of a girl, well woman. Then she saw Jack.  
  
She left go of John.  
  
The Doctor let go of my hand and they walked towards each other.  
  
Then they smiled and hugged.  
  
“You look different.” The Doctor said.  
  
“You don’t, still wearing that brown suit.”  
  
“Yeah, but you.” he looked at her, gone was the peroxide blonde, instead she had her natural colour. “Suits you.”  
  
“Erm I am sorry to break up this *happy reunion* but we don’t have time, I do want some *alone* time with Rose, to explain the plan.” John stood forward.  
  
“Ok.”   
  
We all watched as Rose and John left the room. Jack then said he wanted to see Jake. That left The Doctor and I.  
  
“You ok?”  
  
“Yeah am always….” then he stopped. “No, but its ok. I just want this to be over, I want to be back onboard the TARDIS with you.” he pulled me to him. Then he kissed me.  
  
I leaned into the kiss. Then we parted. “What are you going to do?”  
  
“Well first of all, I can deactivate that bracelet, I can do it without him even knowing.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yeah, since I was the one who developed it.”  
  
“You developed something like that?”  
  
“Not for this purpose, it was meant for use on our enemies.”  
  
“Oh, ok.”  
  
“Well if I just do this.” the Doctor pointed his sonic at the door, he knew Rose and John were outside.   
  
We heard the clunk. Then Rose came running in. “How?”  
  
“Long story, but he cant hurt you any more. But..”   
  
Rose looked at John and then to the Doctor. “Ok, but first things first.”  
  
I watched as Rose walked over to me, “Hi, my name is Rose.”  
  
“Hi my name is Melanie but I go by Mel.”  
  
“Hi Mel, he forgets himself and never introduces people.”  
  
“Oi.” The Doctor and John said in unison.  
  
“So Doctor, what’s this plan?”  
  
\---  
  
The Master stood in front of his full length wall mirror. And laughed.  
  
“Soon I will have my own empire of TimeLords, pure TimeLords, I just need a half breed child and then I can remove the DNA of TimeLords and rebuild, now I have located Gallifrey on this world, and there is no one to stop me.”  
  
\---  
  
All of us had gone to the Tyler’s house, in the back of a van. Jack was coming as a guest of Pete Tyler, Jackie wanted to stay with Tony.  
  
So it was that Rose and I were stood in her room.  
  
“So you and the Doctor eh.” she smiled.  
  
I looked at her and blushed.  
  
“Hey, its fine. I am glad he found someone, I never thought it was fair that I got to love a version of him and he didn’t get a one of me. So how did you meet?”  
  
So I told Rose.  
  
“Really? Wow. And its been a year?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“Well must be serious, anyway lets get ready for this ball, I cant wait to get rid of the Master and get my family and this world back to how it should be.”  
  
\---  
  
So it was an hour later that Rose and John, who was actually the Doctor, left. Rose had to be back by 8 pm.   
  
The Doctor came over to me, “Please wear this.” The Doctor placed a chain around my neck.   
  
I placed my hand on it. It was like a dog tag, but it had weird symbols on it, “What is it?”  
  
“That.” he pointed to the pendant. “Is my family crest, I used to use it as a sort of key for the TARDIS, but after what happened I went back to good old yard locks. It is …. Well its given to the betrothed.”  
  
I gasped. “You mean this is like……” I fingered the pendant. It felt so much more precious.  
  
“Yes, because after we deal with the Master, I want to ..” he looked at Rose.   
  
I knew, he could move on now, Rose was happy, which meant he didn’t need to hold on to that tiny little bit guilt he felt.  
  
“I want to as well.” I smiled. Then I pulled him in for a kiss.  
  
Rose looked across, and whispered. “They look far too happy, don’t they realise what is about to happen?”  
  
“Oh I think they know, but I also know the Doctor just……well for a better word Proposed.” he grinned.  
  
Rose beamed a smile. “About time.”  
  
I broke the kiss and heard it, then I blushed.  
  
“You go, and keep safe, I will see you soon.” I said as I hugged him.  
  
“Right then Miss Tyler.”  
  
John gave him a look.  
  
“Sorry Mrs Noble-Smith. Would you care to accompany me to the ball?”  
  
“I shall.” Rose kissed John. Then took the Doctor’s hand.  
  
“Remember Rose, we’re supposed to be separated.” John yelled.  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
\---  
  
John (The Doctor) and Rose arrived at the mansion.  
  
“Wow.”  
  
“Shh, You have been here before, well you know.”  
  
“Ok.” The Doctor made sure the chain with the perception key was well hidden as he held his mask.  
  
Then the Master appeared.  
  
“Lets do this.” John/Doctor said.  
  
\---  
  
“Ah Rose and the half breed.” The Master looked at John, there was something odd, but he dismissed it. “The guests and press will be arriving soon, and you Miss need to change into the gown I showed you.”  
  
“Yes sir.” Rose said through gritted teeth.  
  
“Rose.” The Master threw her a look.  
  
“Sorry, yes Harry.” Rose looked at John/Doctor and then left.  
  
“Ah, now would you care for drinks in the library until the guests arrive?”  
  
\---  
  
30 minutes after they left we all departed. I was terrified. Then I felt a hand in mine.  
  
“It will be fine, we can do this quick and simple.” John reassured me, although I think he was trying to reassure himself too.  
  
\---  
  
Jack, John (who was now called Peter Carlisle), Pete and I left the limo.  
  
“Here goes.” we all looked at each other. We had similar masks on, it was a sort of family and friends thing. Pete had been to a few of the Masters *parties*.  
  
We entered into a huge ballroom, our coats were taken, I had made sure that the two pendants I had on were tucked into my bosom, as the dress Rose had given me was rather revealing. Well I thought that until I saw Rose.  
  
She was wearing a dress that came halfway down her thighs, but it plunged at the neck down to her…well almost her belly button. She looked so uncomfortable.  
  
“I’ll kill him.” John snarled.  
  
“Get in line.” Came a voice.  
  
I turned and saw the Doctor/John. “Hello Dr Noble-Smith.”  
  
“And to you?”  
  
“Natalie. But you can call me Nat.” I smiled.  
  
“And this must be?”  
  
“Hello John.”  
  
“Peter and MR Tyler.”  
  
“John.”  
  
We grabbed some drinks and Peter/John and I mingled, as Pete and John/The Doctor mingled too.  
  
Then we heard a tapping on a glass.  
  
The Master or Harry Saxon was stood at the top of the stairs, Rose was beside him, with best fake smile in the world.   
  
“Welcome, friends, colleagues and Journalists. I am throwing this party for a few reasons. 1, I am stepping out of the limelight. I am ready to settle down, which brings me to item 2. Mrs Noble-Smith has kindly agreed to be my wife, once her divorce comes through. And Mr and Mrs Tyler have been so kind. As has the soon to be ex husband.”  
  
John looked up at Rose. I held his hand. “Peter stop staring.”  
  
He glared at me, I remember that look, it scared me. Was John going to blow the plan?  
  
The Doctor was standing at the bottom of the stairs and the Master rabbled on.  
  
I just watched as John clenched his fist.   
  
This was going bad.  
  
The Doctor looked and saw me, then he saw John. He walked over and stood behind him, “John, calm down, he wont have Rose, in a matter of minutes this will be over.”  
  
John grabbed the Doctor.  
  
“Ah I thought this may happen. I am sorry ladies and gentlemen, please go back to drinking and having fun.” The Master looked down, the half-breed was chatting to someone that had came with the Tyler’s.  
  
“No, it ends now.”  
  
The Doctor grabbed John but John moved and grabbed the Doctor, now somehow the Doctor’s perception chain snapped and then the Master looked.  
  
He sniffed. “DOCTOR!!” he yelled.  
  
Rose ran towards John,  
  
The Master lifted his laser screwdriver and pressed a button. But nothing.  
  
“What?”  
  
Then the sound of a fire alarm.   
  
People ran, as did we. We all headed to the front. Even though the fire assembly point was at the rear of the house.   
  
I saw the Doctor in front, Pete, then Jack, then John, Rose was just in front of me, I turned and saw the Master. He was running with his laser screwdriver aimed not at me, the perception filter was working.  
  
“You will die.” he yelled.  
  
In that split second I made my choice, if Rose died, the Doctor would go back to how he had been at the end of the TimeWar. I couldn’t let that happen. This world needed Rose as much as our world needed the Doctor.  
  
I jumped in between Rose and the Master as the laser struck.  
  
The Doctor turned on his heal.  
  
I never meant to scream that loud, but blimey it hurt.  
  
“MEL NOOOOOOOO!!!!!” the Doctor yelled.  
  
Jack ran towards the Master and tackled him.  
  
I fell to the ground.  
  
“Oh no Mel, no. That was meant for me.” Rose said.  
  
I felt the Doctor lifting me up.  
  
“Hey.” I tried to smile.  
  
“Shh, your ok. We can get you to the TARDIS.” The Doctor ran his finger down my cheek.  
  
“Doctor, we both know that its too late.”  
  
“Please, don’t say that.” The Doctor whispered.  
  
John and Pete had The Master surrounded now. They took a small device from him and stamped on it.  
  
“There. That’s the spell broken.” John said. He then walked over to Rose and knelt beside her.   
  
“That should be me lying there.” she cried.  
  
“No, Rose no. This world needs…….needs you…as much as mine needs the Doctor.” I gritted my teeth, I could feel the pain coursing through me.  
  
“But…”  
  
“Shhh,” I smiled. “I have had the best time, the time I had with you. I wouldn’t change it for the world. You made me better.”  
  
“As you made me better.” The Doctor smiled.  
  
“Please, Doctor don’t go back down that path………don’t go back, keep going forward. Promise me.” I then spasamed, the pain in my head.  
  
“Mel, please don’t leave me. I love you don’t……”  
  
“Promise me.” I urged, I could feel my eyelids growing heavy.  
  
The Doctor pulled me closer to him. “I promise, I will never go back, only forward.”  
  
He pulled back and I looked up at him. I felt a peace come over me. “Thank you.”  
  
Then I closed my eyes.  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor just held Mel, she was gone. He felt it, the anger, the rage, storm inside bubbling. But no. he looked at Mel then over to the Master.  
  
John looked at the rage inside his father. He knew his father could never live with what should be done. John stood up. He reached onto his pocket. The Torchwood on this world had gotten their hands on many a thing. Including a poison deadly to TimeLords. It must have fallen through the breech or something. But he held it. He knew as long as the Master was alive. Rose, himself and the Doctor were at risk.  
  
He stood up and walked calm and cool over to the master. He knelt down.  
  
“I have 2 choices for you. You can die every way I know of, every time you regenerate I will kill you again or.”  
  
The Master looked at this half-breed, the anger in his eyes.   
  
“Or you can take this and die once, painfully but once. Its your choice. I would gladly thrive on doing option 1.”  
  
The Master looked at John and then to the Doctor who looked at him. He saw a mad stranger looking back. “The liquid.” The Master said.  
  
“Open wide.” John said as he uncapped the vial.  
  
The Master did, he then closed his mouth.  
  
“Swallow.” John said sternly. The Master did. John made sure he had. “Good, now you can die knowing a small amount of pain you have caused.”  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor lay Mel down on the floor. Then he looked over at John and The Master, then he saw it. Before he could stop it, the Master had drunk it.  
  
“Noooo, where the hell did you get that?” The Doctor yelled.  
  
“Thete.” the Master spoke.  
  
“Don’t, you lost the right to call me that eons ago.”   
  
“I didn’t mean to….I only wanted to have Rose give me a half-breed so I could take the DNA ………..OW…. Oh god no….” The Master convulsed. “I would have….”  
  
“Don’t you lie to me, you would have killed us all. Now you will die a horrible death.” The Doctor looked away. “John that was something you didn’t have to do.”  
  
“Hey, I gave him an option.”  
  
“Doctor, will you be alright?” Rose asked.  
  
“I…don’t know. Rose, John would you…….I mean if you would rather..”  
  
“Dad.” John said.  
  
“Wow, now that sounds strange.”   
  
“Well that’s what you are in a way.”  
  
“Please, don’t.”  
  
“Doc, we should go, the breech.” Jack said.  
  
“So you coming?”  
  
“No.” Rose said.  
  
“What?”  
  
“Mel was right, I am needed here. But you promise me, find someone, you don’t need to fall in love with each one, just find someone to travel with don’t be on your own.”  
  
\---  
  
The Doctor waited until the Master had died. He had suffered. The Doctor had hated to watch someone he had seen as a brother once. He had burnt the body. Made sure there were no little items left. Pete had assured him everything in the mansion would be destroyed.  
  
He said his goodbyes and Jack and he left, the Doctor carrying the body of his betrothed.  
  
\---  
  
 **On our world**  
  
A week later, the Doctor, with a little help from TW had told Mel’s family and friends about her tragic accident. But that she had given her life to save a young girl. Her parents and siblings were sad but proud. Her friends cried. He had also given them the pendant he had given her and the dress the faeries had made he asked that she be buried with them.  
  
The Doctor stood in the back of the church when the funeral took place. He had promised Mel’s parents he would come, but only to the service, not the wake.  
  
It was a moving service, full of sadness and humour, Mel was loved by all.  
  
The Doctor left and headed for the TARDIS, he looked up. “Your free now, no more nightmares.” he smiled and then stepped inside the TARDIS.


End file.
